It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right or is it?
by JustPlainToni
Summary: Six years after Zim was banished to Earth, Zim tries to live a human life with his best friend Dib, but a certain skool project threaten their friendship forcing Zim to make new friends. Now Zim struggle to keep his secret through funny and serious events
1. What about the project!

It's Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 1: What about the project?

It was a fine late Sunday morning in January. The snow turned to slush from last week's snowstorm as Zim stomps down the street to Dib's house to work on their first semester final project in Science Technology. As Zim marches down the street, anyone and I mean anyone could tell that he was not a very spectacular mood. He didn't even bother to wear a coat in 40 degree weather. He was just wearing a plain white T-shirt, a pair of his good black gloves, black pants and his usual black boots. His hair and clothes were very messy and disarranged that he either one; just got up and didn't bother to dress himself properly or two he was just was really, really, really frustrated (If I were you I'd guess two). Zim rang the door bell and waited for someone to respond. No answer. Zim rings the doorbell again and slams his fists on the door forcefully that even the neighbors opened their doors to answer. Finally, Dib's door slowly opens to show Dib holding a baseball bat getting ready to swing. Dib saw his deranged friend, he sighed.

"Zim, for God's sake! I thought you were the daytime burglar that appears on Sundays. What are you trying to do? Break the door down!"

"Anything to get your attention, Dib! You hung up on me!" Zim shrieked.

"No I didn't." Dib said innocently while rolling his eyes.

"Yes you did. I called you five times and when you picked up, you ended the call."

* * *

30 Minutes earlier

10:00AM

1st call: "Hello it's me, Zim. I thought maybe you should come over and help me finish this project." Click, Dib hangs up.

10:10AM

2nd call: "Hey, it's me again. Maybe you should come over and finish this project." Click, Dib hangs up again.

10:11AM

3rd call: "Heh, you got me...Now seriously come over and finish the project." Click, Dib once more, hangs up on him.

10:12AM

4th call: "Why you! Quit doing that!" Click, Dib once more, hangs up but only because it was funny.

5th call: "OK, Dib, if you want to play it that way, I'm going to have to get your no good lazy ass myself!"

"I'm sorry; the person that you are reaching is not available. Please leave a message at the beep. BEEEEEEPPP!"

"Dib I know that's you! You're not fooling anyone!"

Clicks Dib hangs up out of annoyance.

* * *

"Oh come on Zim!" Dib chuckled. "I was just having some fun. You know how personal you get with phone calls. It's pretty funny!"

"Nothing is funny about what kind of grade we're gonna get if you don't get your butt over at my place and help me figure out the plasma cannon coordinates before tomorrow's presentation. Remember the cannon have to hit the board directly in the middle in order to get an A. There will be dire consequences if that laser misses that board."

"You get a C, so what! I'm passing that class." Dib said proudly.

Then Zim grabbed Dib by his collar and whispered snarling. "I'm not."

"God, for a highly superior alien race, you really suck at math!"

"Uh-huh. That's why I need you to come over and fix the coordinates. I build the cannon myself at least you can do is help me with this one little thing."

"Sorry Zim, I can't right now. I'm busy."

"Busy With what?"

"Dib is that the daytime burglar again. If it is, you want me to get my shot gun because that bat will never do." A strange female voice shouted from Dib's living room.

"No, everything's Okay. It's just Zim." Dib shouted back.

"It's that girl again! Isn't Dib?"

"Yeah, Gretchen." Dib signed happily. "I'm going to be meeting her parents tonight at dinner. If I get on their good side I might be able to take her to the junior prom."

"Prom? Last year you called it a bunch a brainless zombies dancing to rap music and now you want to go! You changed man!"Zim said disappointed.

"Look Zim, you're going to have to figure out the coordinates by yourself. I can't help you now."

"Fine, but if we get a failing grade, don't come crying to me!" Zim stormed off Dib's porch. Dib closed the door atlas.

"Stupid Dib and his whacked-out hormones! I didn't genetically make myself 3 feet taller to get what he's having. He will pay!"

Zim then noticed that the garage was open showing all of Dib's tools he used to keep up with Tak's ship maintenance.

"He won't help me with this then no more Dib-flying-time. Bye-bye Dib-flying-time! Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!"

Zim smirked, picked up all of his tools and placed them in Dib's tool box. Then with great speed, he ran down to the corner of the street and with a big bang, he fell on his back. Then he rolled over and he placed one of his hands in the mud puddle and got his new glove dirty. Then he yelped.

"OW OW OW OW OWWWWWWWWW!" he screamed shaking his hand from the pain. "Son of a Bitch! What the hell did I hit?"

Zim finally notice what he hit and it wasn't a pole. It was a strange girl with fairly red curly up to her shoulders with light brown eyes. She was wearing a black coat, a long black skirt with brown boots. Scattered around her were a bunch of flyers and a big ol' stapler next to her. Zim looked at the unbalanced girl as she held her forehead from the pain of the collision.

"Are you okay?" Zim asked.

"Yeah, I'll live. I don't think the fliers will though." She said pointing to the curb.

Zim saw that most of the fliers flew into the slushy water puddle by the curb.

The girl gathered the remaining fliers off the sidewalk as Zim helped. Zim then flipped over the flier to see what it says.

"UFO CONVENTION IN THE PARK JAN.27"

Zim scorned at the flier and handed it to her.

"Yeah, it's where a bunch of geeky believers come and talk about their 'encounters'. My mom makes me pass out these flyers and calls it bonding. This is the only time of the year I get to see her and she is making me pass out fliers!"

"That sucks." Zim says astonish as he picked up Dib's tool box.

"Well you got rid of half of them. This makes my job easier. Thanks!"

The girl smiled. Then she stood up with the fliers in one hand and the stapler in the other. Zim noticed how short she was barely reaching his shoulders' height. After a long awkward silence, the girl introduced herself.

"Hi. I'm Mary." She said.

"You mean like Mary had a little shplooshore, named it Kyle and fed it locust."

"No." Mary said stumped by his mother goose history.

"And my name is not important to you because I will never see you again. Tat-tat"! Zim said running off leaving Mary behind as he got back to his dilemma.


	2. The Day of the Project, What a nightmare

It's a wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 2: The day of the project, what a nightmare!

It was a fine January Monday morning at Cess-Pool View Hi Skool, where Zim was wheeling the plasma cannon on a standard red wagon along with the other kids that was in Mr. Burnman's Science Technology class. The only difference between Zim and the other classmates was that they all had rides to deliver their projects as for Zim who lived far away from the city skool and had to take the metro. Zim, all morning on his bus ride, had to swat a hobo away multiple times thinking it was the toilet of the future.

Anyways, Zim marched with his cannon following behind to Mr. Burnman's class before the bell rang. Zim was about 10 minutes early before 8AM to set up the plasma cannon. Zim looked at his calculation sheet for the coordinates and cringe hoping Dib would show up early and double check his calculation. He never did, so two minutes before class started, Zim typed in the coordinates on the plasma cannon keyboard. The bell rang and everyone gathered into the classroom, including Dib. Zim walked up to Dib with the formula sheet in his hand.

"Quick, Dib! Have a look at this equation before the teacher comes in!" Zim pleaded to Dib handing him the formula sheet. Dib took the sheet out of Zim's hand, looked at it and fiddled with his glasses.

"Yeah. This should be fine. Zim, you need more confidence in yourself."

"How can I be more confident if we're supposed to be a team?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Dib said ignoring his friend's bitter complaints.

Just then, Mr. Burnman walked into the classroom with his predictable brown jacket tie combo with black slacks.

"Alright class! Everyone stand by your cannons as I evaluate your machines. Isn't this exciting! Your three month project that you worked on at home is about to pay off! I'm so proud of you guys!"

Hearing this encouragement made the classmates smile, while Zim just rolled his eyes.

"Alright. I'm gonna start evaluating you two first." Mr. Burnman squealed as he pointed at Kevin and Cindy.

Zim watched as Kevin and Cindy made a perfect dot in the board then burn the wood to make a tiny hole.

"Good work you two! A+!" Mr. Burnman said.

One by one Mr. Burnman went down the row grading a few B's and C's until he reached Zim and Dib's display of their plasma cannon.

"Well, well, well. Last but not least our two geniuses. I'm sure this wasn't a challenge for you guys."

"Oh no, it wasn't Mr. Burnman." Dib said gleefully.

"Of course not." Zim said sarcastically as he picked up backpack and pulled out his red umbrella matching the color of Zim's shirt.

"What's the umbrella for, Zim?" Mr. Burnman asked scratching his blonde head.

"Oh, this." Zim said pointing to the umbrella. "It's a surprise!"

"Wonderful!" Mr. Burnman said excited-like.

Dib placed the wood on the desk two feet away. Zim fired the cannon. The cannon warmed up and placed the dot on the middle of the board. Zim was relieved until the cannon started to rattle uncontrollably.

"Hit the deck!" Zim screamed.

Everyone hit the floor while Mr. Burnman looked at his students confused. Then the cannon spin around shooting a beam everywhere it circled. Zim crawled on the ground and pulled the plug out of the outlet. Zim stood up and saw that around a mortified Mr. Burnman was a bunch of holes on the wall missing his head, neck and arms. Then the sprinkler's came on and Zim pulled up his umbrella.

"Dib! Zim! What the hell were you thinking when you made this monstrosity!" Mr. Burnman cried out.

"It's all Dib's fault!" Zim Said.

"What!" Dib shouted.

"He didn't help me at all."

"I don't care. You two are getting an F!" Mr. Burnman screamed.

"That's not fair, Mr. Burnman! It was an accident!" Zim pleaded.

"Nothing is an accident with an attempted assassination!" Mr. Burnman exaggerated. "What are you doing with your life Burnman, teaching a bunch of kids." Mr. Burnman shuddered to himself.

"Calm down, Mr. Burnman. Ya gonna be okay." Dib said placing his hand on the teacher's shoulder.

"Calm down!" Mr. Burnman said brushing off Dib's hand walking around the classroom grabbing his own head to steady himself. "My life just flashed before my eyes. It tells me to leave this place and live." Then Mr. Burnman ran out of the room laughing hysterically into the principal's office.

* * *

"You two have done it this time." Growled the principle as the two boys sat in the small and bleak office of Principle Bitters.

"Ever since you two walked into my fourth grade classroom seven years ago, I knew you guys would be nothing but trouble. Now look what you did! You two single handed destroyed a classroom and had our only Science Technology teacher quit. What do you two have to say for yourselves?"

"It was Dib's fault! He didn't help me at all." Zim shouted.

"Silence!" Bitters screamed at Zim making him sit lower in his chair.

"Of course you two will have to pay for the damages of the classroom, but as added punishment you two will be going to the class that began this problem in the first place. From my research, the coordinate formula was wrong due to the fact that instead of using Sin you used Cosine. You two will be taking an extra math class instead of an elective for next semester and it is going to be calculus."

"No! Please anything but that!" Zim begged her.

"It has already been done. Now get out of my office."

Principle Bitters pushed a button on her desk that send both Dib and Zim flying out of the office. Dib stood up brushing himself off as Zim got up and glared at him. Then the bell rang.

"What is it? Second period. Let's go to gym class before Mr. Millmere whales on us." Dib said running, and then he looked back, stopped and saw that Zim didn't budge.

"Come on, Zim! You don't want to get into more trouble. We'll talk about this later, come on." Dib said then continue to run without him and Zim began to walk.


	3. Meetin' The Crew!

Author's note: Sorry it took me awhile to upload chapter 3. It's a very long chapter and I had a lot stuff happen to me the last couple of days.

Things caught on fire but it's fine now, so enjoy!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 3: Meetin' the crew.

While the boys and girls of Mr. Millmere Class walks out to the track field, Mary and her two classmates worked on their final project for Biology on the other side of the fence. They were growing an organic garden. Mary was heading towards the track fence to pick up a bag of fertilizer, until she saw a familiar face.

"Hey, Josh, Brian! That's the guy that I ran into yesterday!"

"Who?" Josh wondered as he walked towards the field to get a better view. He was wearing a white pain T-shirt and pulled up black pants.

"The green fellow." Mary said pointed him out.

Josh fixed his glasses and saw that the Zim was trying to trip the Dib next to him.

"Oh, that's Kid's name is Zim AKA Mean and Green on campus." Josh said examining his PDA.

"Why do they call him that?" Mary asked Josh.

"Well to my research and the rumors that I picked up in the halls, Zim got that nickname because he doesn't take crap from anyone! It's probably has to do with the fact that Zim's parents died when he was twelve. He had to get a job earlier than the rest of us and when people made fun of him in his clown suit for Wak-Donalds, he would find out where they lived and beat the shit of them." Josh said reading Zim's Bibliography on his PDA. Mary was shocked at what Josh told her but also impressed. She looked back at Zim curiously.

"Why is he trying to trip that kid?" Mary said interested.

"Just last period, him and Dib, the boy with the weird scythe hair cut, had a plasma cannon accident in Science Technology making Mr. Burnman quit."

"Would you two shut ya traps!" One of their teammates shouted. It was Brian.

"Help me with the potatoes. They have been waiting for that fertilizer for a long time." Brian said as he stood up pulling up his blue jeans adjusting his brown belt that matched his beige T-shirt looking at his two friends.

"You two need to keep you head out of the clouds." He continued. "It's not good for you."

So Josh and Mary both carried the fertilizer and join Brian back to their own world.

* * *

After gym class, Zim walked to his Junior English Class and volunteered first to read his book report on Frankenstein. When he was done with his presentation, he sat back down in his desk and laid his weary head on his desk. He wanted to fall asleep like he usually does in this class, but too many things occupied his mind. How hard will calculus going to be? Will he fail or get any help? And what is up with Dib and his new girlfriend? He wasn't this so irresponsible before. All these questions filled his mind, but no answer to occupy it. Just then, the bell rang and it was lunch time for him.

Zim went to his locker and picked out the books he needs for his next three classes, Algebra III, Earth Science and U.S. History. Zim went into the cafeteria and sat at a random table that may have been occupied by a clique. Zim didn't care where he sat because he knew that he had a horrible reputation around skool. Nobody ever dare kick him out of the table; they would just move to another table and leave him alone. He liked that anyways because today all he wants to do is to be left alone.

Dib came walking into the cafeteria with Gretchen arm wrapped around Dib's. Zim noticed the horrid fashion sense of the girl with her traditional three-pig-tailed purple hair style she had ever since he knew her, the new metal frame on her braces like teeth, her striped sleeveless shirt, medium orange skirt and tennis shoes.

'It's like his dating Frankenstein monster himself!' Zim thought.

Dib approached Zim at his bleak four person table at the left side of the wall.

"Zim, may we sit down and talk?" Dib asked politely.

"No, go away. I don't want to speak to you." Zim said folding his arms and giving both of them a cold stare.

"Well, it's just that this relationship is fresh and I have so many things on my mind right now that I want to make this work." Dib tried to explain. Zim looked pissed at what Dib said but suddenly Zim's face looked calm and he smiled.

"I guess that explains everything!" Zim said waving his hands around then placing his right elbow on the table, resting his head on his right hand. "I totally understand your troubles; after all, you two make such a happy couple. What are you guys again, that's right! The two ugly mofos! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha ha!" Zim laughed and Dib was seriously offended by his comment and looked at Gretchen who was about to cry.

"It's because of my braces isn't it? The dentist said I had two months left before they are completely off."

Gretchen then ran out of the cafeteria. Dib gave Zim a dirty look.

"What, you totally walked into that one." Zim said like it wasn't a big deal.

"You know what Zim, sometimes you can be a cold-hearted bastard." Dib plainly stated as he chased after Gretchen.

"Cold-hearted? You know better that I don't have one!" Zim shouted back.

After the commotion in the cafeteria has ended, everyone return to what they were doing before and Zim brought out his lunch out of his backpack. In his lunch that Gir made for him was a salad in a Tupperware container and some juice.

"Man, I'm so sick of salads." Zim muttered to himself staring at his lunch.

Mary walked into the cafeteria with her lunch she got out of her locker and while looking for her friends, she noticed Zim was sitting by himself poking at his salad.

"I didn't know he had this lunch. It's funny that you don't notice people until you meet them." Mary smirked to her own conclusion. She saw Brian and Josh at their table and waved to them. She walked to the table.

"How it's going, Mary?" Josh asked. "Anything interesting happen during class?" Josh brought out his PDA hoping for the best rumors.

"Don't press your luck, Josh. Nobody tells me anything." Mary says as she opens her paper lunch bag. Then she looked at Zim again and came up with an idea.

"Hey guys, how would you feel if I invite Zim over to have lunch with us?" Mary asked smiling.

"Are you crazy!" Josh protested. "That guy's nuts! He just made Gretchen cried, I hate to see what will happen to you if you even come near him."

"Maybe he's just lonely. You guys should know as well as I do how we act when we get lonely. Besides, he may be having a bad day and needs to be cheered up!" Mary explained.

"It's hard to believe there are people like you that still exist." Josh stated.

"He can eat with us. I don't care." Brian said as he read his aerodynamics book.

"Well, if Zim joined our posse, maybe we can use him as a body guard. No one will ever make fun of us with him around." Josh reasoned with his friends.

"I really doubt that." Mary said.

"Me too." Brian agreed.

"Then, it's settled." Mary and her friends decided. Mary stood up from her seat and walked to the left side of the cafeteria to Zim's table. Zim was still poking his salad until he saw a maroonish blur right next to him. He looked up.

"Hello." Mary smiled and waved at him awkwardly. "I don't know if you remember me..."

"Oh yeah, Mary right!" Zim said suddenly. "Mary had a little shplooshore named it Kyle and feed it locus, right?"

"Well, I never heard that version of the rhyme before; usually she would have a lamb." Mary commented.

"Oh." Zim said silently. "Well, you found me so what is it that you want. Money! Because that's the only reason anyone would come near me! And if it is, I don't have any to give!" Zim shrieked at Mary. She stepped back a bit.

"No," She continued. "I was just wondering if you would like to join my friends and me for lunch."

"Why would you even invite me over to your table?" Zim questioned.

"I just thought you might want..." Mary stopped and saw that Zim stood up and looked straight down at her disgusted.

"So you feel sorry for me! Well forget it! Zim does not need charity!" Zim glared at the girl her and he thought she would runaway but instead she looked him in the eyes and smiled.

"Well, if you changed your mind. Our table is right over there. See ya!" Mary said and calmly walked over to her table she pointed to and sat down.

"Huh?" Zim said confused. He sat back down at his table. "Hmp. Like I would want to go over there and join them. Who do they think they are?" Zim pouted. Then he looked at them again. "And yet..."

* * *

"And so I was like, you can't put that there, that's the filing cabinet not the refrigerator!" Josh Said.

Everyone at the table laughed at the joke until they saw that Zim was standing in front of the table with his lunch sack in his hand. An awkward silence occurred. Zim backed away nervously.

"Hey, why don't you have a seat? You can sit next to me." Mary offered brushing off the leftover crumbs on the seat.

"Okay." Zim said finally and sat next to her.

Zim looked at the boy across from him with the beige shirt, brown greasy hair and tan complexion and then at the boy with the gelled jet-black hair pulled back with the pale complexion. He had a white shirt on with a pocket protector in his front shirt pocket.

"You already know who I am," Mary stated. "So let me introduce you. This is Brian" she said as she laid out her hand in the direction of the brunet boy reading his book "and this is Josh" she waved to him. Josh said nothing.

"Hi, my name is Zim and I..."

"Yeah I know who you are." Josh interrupted. Zim became annoyed. "Your name is Zim AKA Mean and Green of Campus. You moved to this area in fourth grade, your parents died at age twelve, got a long history of fighting on campus multiple times and just recently got into trouble for shooting holes in the classroom and made Mr. Burnman quit. Good for you! I really hated that guy."

"Josh!" Mary protested.

"Well if he's going to be hanging out with us, he might as well know I'm a computer information hacker. I pretty much know everyone in this skool even the freshmen and I'm keeping track of them on my PDA from my website."

Josh said showing his website from his PDA. Zim looked at the website and it had pictures of some students he knew and saw the title of the website. Zim became shocked.

"You're the founder of The Gossip Bug! That's like the most popular and accurate rumor based website in this high skool! That's neat!

How do you do it?" Zim questioned in amazement.

"I have personal cameras around the skool and a bug in the boys and girls bathroom. I watch what is recorded when I get home and hack the skool system for more info."

"So you're the mysterious Gossip Bug." Zim pondered. Then he looked at Josh again at his fashion sense and lack of sun on his skin. "Hmmm. A nerdy outcast as the famous Gossip Bug, somehow it suits you."

"Hey! I'm working on my image. I just need help!" Josh stood up and shouts at Zim.

"Yeah, lots of help!" Zim stated back. Josh sat down and looked at Zim annoyed.

"But, I don't get it man, why you do when you don't get any credit for it! I mean what do you benefit from it!"

"That's the million dollar question, my friend. I do it for the thrill alone. I like the feeling of knowing everything without anyone knowing it was me. I feel like I am God! Plus, if they know it's me, they would beat me up."

"Got cha'!" Zim nodded. He made a mental note not to get on his bad side for he can't afford and slip ups with his double life.

"So, Brian what are you reading." Zim asked. Brain looked up at him.

"A book about aerodynamics for airplanes of all kinds. I want to join the air force when I graduate, so I'm learning everything I need to know about airplanes. My dad wants me to join the army, just like him and my grandfathers' before me, but it's not my style. Ever since the first time I flew our family's crop-duster, I never turned back."

"So your family owns a farm, how come you go to this skool, shouldn't you be at the skool in the country." Zim continued with his questions.

"I would but our rolling cow knocked over our power outlet to our high skool and burned it to the ground. We would have killed the cow, if only she didn't produced the best milk in the entire world." Brian said nonchalantly.

"Oh, wow!" Zim said surprised.

"If I went to the other skool further down, they would kill me."

Zim stared at Brian strangely.

"So let's decide on where we will have our meeting!" Mary started up a new conversation.

"Meeting?" Zim said.

"Yeah, we meet with each other about almost every Saturday, if we can, and play video games, watch movies and hang-out." Mary said cheerfully. "Do you want to join?"

"Sure!" Zim said excited but then recollected his emotions and said. "I mean, what the hell, I'll try to get there. I have to work at Mart-Wall next Saturday."

"That's won't be a problem, what time do you get off."

"I get off at one."

"We can start the party at three." Mary planned.

"That's great and all but we need to figure out a place to party." Josh said.

"Well, you can't do it in my house, you creep my mom out." Brian said to Josh.

"I can't have anyone over at my place." Mary said. "My dad is working on an important experiment this Saturday; he made that very clear yesterday."

"Did he hit you?" Zim asked without thinking. Everyone just stared at him.

"What?" Mary said surprised. "No, of course not, it's just a very important experiment and he doesn't want any distractions."

"Oh, sorry for being too personal. I guess I watch too many movies."

"I guess so." Mary chuckled.

"Alright, back to the topic at hand, where are we going to have the meeting? I can't have it at my house because my dad was really pissed off on what happened last time."

"Oh yeah, your Dad's cat got electrocuted for chewing on your controller cord." Brian reminded the crew. The table went silent. Zim realizing that these humans were no threat to him thought of a pretty reckless idea.

"I know! You guys can have the gathering at my house." Zim suggested. "Don't have any crazy parents anymore."

"Are you sure your okay with that." Mary asked suspiciously.

"Oh, yeah. I don't have anything better to do with my time." Zim explained.

"Okay, so it's settled. We will have the party at Zim's house." Josh said.

"Not without me I hope!" Cried a voice out of nowhere. Then they saw her grab Josh from behind and hugged him.

"Of course not, Tina. I was going to tell you over at my house." Josh said annoyed.

"Oh good! Who's that?" Tina asked Josh placing her hands on the table staring at Zim. Tina was a highly dressed musical spiffy girl with long blond hair in pigtails. She is wearing a purple sleeveless T-shirt with a pink heart on it with tons of necklaces, bracelets and rings along with her hot-pink headphones in her pierced ears. Below her black miniskirt wield rainbow striped socks with blue shoes.

"This is Zim, the person having the party." Zim smiled and waved at her awkwardly.

Tina leaned on the table to have a good look at him.

"Wow! He's cute! I would like to come to the party with my Kitty Kat!"

"Stop calling me that!" Josh said furiously.

"Oh stop it!" Tina pushed up on the table to look at her boyfriend. "Everyone knows you're my Cat! I just wanted him to know!"

"Oh, okay...You can come too." Zim said as he brought out his notebook and wrote down his address, phone number, and time to have the party four times. He ripped it four ways and gave them to his new friends. "Here ya go, come over at three."

After Zim came home around eight at night after working at Mart-Wall, Zim confronted Gir who was sitting on the couch eating a new kind of candy watching an rerun of the scary monkey show.

"Girrrrr." Zim said as he sat down with his robot companion.

"Yessssssss." Gir answered.

"Remember when you said we need to have a birthday party for your master?"

"Noooooo." Gir said gobbling down the candy.

"Well, we are going to have a party this Saturday. So we have to ready the base for that."

"Yaaaaaaay!" Gir squealed.

Zim picked up the bag of candy.

"Here try some!" Gir pleaded.

Gir handed him a piece and Zim unwrapped the candy from its red wrapper and placed it in his mouth.

"Mmmmm. This is good. What is it?"

"Lollirot. The hard candy with a piece of pork in the middle."

"Graaagh!" Zim choked on the candy, fell to the floor and spat it out.

"Girr!"

"Everybody needs a piece of lollirot. Lolli lolli lolli lolli lolli lolli lolli lolli lollirot!"


	4. Party at Zim's House! Forrealzthistime!

Author's Note: I'm on a roll! XD

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 4: Party at Zim's House! (For realz this time)

When Zim went back to skool the next day, it wasn't so bad because he had people to sit with him during lunch. Zim liked them because they didn't bother asking why his skin was green, why he had no nose or ears. They never suspected he was from another planet. This is good because he always wanted to have a normal life after his banishment and forget about the paranormal nonsense talk with Dib. Speaking of Dib, he never even bothers talking to Zim (and vice versa) this entire week. So when Zim was home he had plenty of time to prepare for the party.

Zim came home around 1:00 PM as usual on a Saturday working for Mart-Wall, He was still wearing his mustard yellow shirt and black pants uniform from work. Zim found Gir and Minimoose in the kitchen trying to bake a cake, but it wasn't turning out well.

"Gir, Minimoose!" Zim said without hesitation. "Our goal is to familiarize ourselves with human greetings, to become excellent hosts without them suspecting our alien behavior. That's why I spend last night blocking anyway of getting into our secret lab."

"AWwwwww. Do I have to be in my doggie suit?" Gir asked his master.

"Yes, but when it comes time, I will tell them that I made you myself and Minimoose too. Many normal kids make their own robots." Zim said.

"Nya!" Minimoose agreed.

"Yaaaaay!" Gir screamed. "I can be crazy!"

"Yes, but not too crazy, we don't want to scare them off." Zim explained.

* * *

It was three o'clock and Mary, Brian, Josh and Tina came off the bus outside of Zim's neighborhood. They walked around the neighborhood trying to find his house.

"Now let's see here. This should be the right cova sac…" Josh said looking at the address. They followed the house number until they found the exact house number. They all stared in awe.

Zim's house looked the same since it appeared in the neighborhood. It was a green painted house with purple framed red tinted windows and roof with a big satellite dish on it. Then in the yard, there were big garden gnomes alongside the pavement up to the door. They all walked into the yard and had a good look at it. The house was huge.

"Holy Shit!" Josh gawked at the house.

"Yep. This house can eat my house easily." Brain admitted.

"Well, I give it a ten for originality, it's not like it's falling apart." Mary said trying to remain positive.

"Mary's, right!" Tina said. "Besides, I really like this house. I wonder what it looks like on the inside."

They all went up to the door and rang the door bell. They waited patiently then Zim opened the door.

Zim saw that his friends' outfits are more different than they are at skool. Mary was wearing her usual black hair band in her hair, but instead of the maroon and black skirt, she was wearing a dark purple blouse with her brown coat and light blue jeans with white tennis shoes. She was carrying something in a white grocery bag. Brian was a little different; he was wearing his beige shirt but this time with black jeans. Tina looked like her usual self. Then he noticed Josh was wearing a really cool looking red coat over his usual outfit carrying the video games in his backpack.

"Hey, come on in." Zim said.

They came inside and saw that his house was actually quite average. He had a Big TV, a maroon couch and matching couch chair connected by an end table between them, a book self and stairs leading to the second floor. The huge yellow monkey picture over the couch was odd though. The walls were red and the tiles were orange. In the middle of the floor was small green and black spotted dog watching TV.

"Hey, Josh." Zim said. "That's a neat coat, where'd you get it?"

"Oh. Tina bought it for me; it was a late birthday present."

"Yeah, I didn't have enough money in November, but I told him I make it up to him one day, yesterday!" Tina said. They laughed at the joke. Gir heard the laughter, stood up from his seat and walked towards them. Mary saw the small dog, bent down, patted his head and smiled.

"Hello there, aren't you cute." Mary said.

"I am!" Gir peeped. Mary stared at Gir in shock.

"Woah!" Josh said amazed. "Did you hear that? That dog just talked." They looked at Gir and then at Zim. Zim looked proud.

"Fellow friends, this is Gir. My robot I made when I was ten years old."

"Hi!" Gir squealed.

"A robot!" Josh shouted in amazement.

"Yep. He's just in his doggie suit so he won't freak the neighbors out." Zim explained.

"So what does he really look like?" Brian asked curious at Gir's real appearance.

"Gir!" Zim shouted to get his robot's attention. "It's okay to go naked in the house!"

"Hooray!" Gir celebrated and took off his suit. He was a light gray little robot with a light blue square on his chest, little arms and legs, a big head with light blue eyes and a little antenna on the top of his head. He took out a bag of candy from his blue square on his chest and start eating it, bag and all.

"Huh. I never seen such advance machinery, I'll l tell you what." Brian said.

"Oh, and there's another one." Zim said as he pointed out to the floating moose next to the couch.

"Nya!" Minimoose squeaked.

"How did we not notice that?" Josh said plainly.

"His name is Minimoose. That's his original form and he doesn't talk he just squeaks." Zim explained to his friends. Minimoose was a floating chibi moose. He kind of looks like a weird statue you put in your yard but you can't because he would just float away. He was light brown, had gray antlers and hooves. He was really round and had short legs.

"Why make a squeaking robot?" Josh asked.

"It's cute that way and more bearable to deal with. I still have to watch on Gir when he has some of his dysfunctions."

"Nya!" Minimoose squeaked.

"Oh my gosh!" Tina squealed back. "It's so cute!" Then she went up to him and hugged him.

"You guys get your videos games set up. I'll fetch the drinks." Zim said.

"I'll help." Mary said.

"You don't have to, Mary." Zim said walking to the kitchen. "You are my guest."

"Oh, it's no trouble, besides I have something to serve." Mary said as she followed him to the kitchen. The kitchen was blue themed. It had dark blue counters, cabinets, the tiled floor and walls. The only things that wasn't blue was the round dining table and chairs they were brown, the refrigerator that was white and there was a door leading out to the backyard to the right of the fridge. (No toilet in the kitchen. It's upstairs now, fans).

"It's good that you brought food because Gir made something and I thought I had to serve that!" Zim pointed at the brown monster mess on the dining table and what looked like a lumpy round mixed colored cake.

"Gir, what exactly did you put in this cake." Zim asked.

"I put some peanuts, some dirt, some grass from the next door neighbor's yard, some guts I found on the street, and a bunch of candy for flavor. Can I eat it now!" Gir asked excited like.

"Yeah, but outside with the doggie suit on." Zim said handing Gir's suit to him. Gir put the suit on and took the cake off the table. Zim opened the backdoor and Gir took his cake out to eat. Zim closed the door behind him.

"He's quite a handful, isn't he?" Mary said.

"Yeah, but his weirdness entertains me. So what did you bring?" Zim asked.

"I made some cookies." Mary said as she pulled the paper plate out of the white bag, removing the tin foil revealing the cookies.

"I didn't know what you liked so I made chocolate chip and sugar cookies." Mary said.

"Zim, you just have to try her cookies. They're to die for." Tina shouted as she played her video game.

"Gee. I hope not." Zim whispered to himself and grudged at the thought.

"Go ahead and try them." Mary said.

"Right, now!" Zim responded quickly.

"Yeah, I wanna see if you like them."

"Oh, okay." Zim said as he picked up a sugar cookie off the paper plate. Then he saw Gir's ball on the table. He thought of a plan.

"What the hell is that?" Zim screamed. "I think there's something outside!" Zim pointed at his front window. Everyone looked out of Zim's front door. "Don't worry folks, I'll check it out." Zim said as he grabbed Gir's ball and went out of the back door.

"Why did he go out the back door?" Tina pondered to her friends. They all shrugged their shoulders.

Zim saw Gir playing in the backyard and picked up him up and brought him to side of the house. Zim banged the ball against the house really hard that it startled his guests.

"No, Gir!" Zim screamed. "Don't throw the ball against the house!" Then Zim took a bite out of the sugar cookie and to his surprise, it did not make him throw up. It was really good. Gir just stood at his master on the grass and said.

"You're losing your mind!"

Zim gave Gir the ball and went back into the house.

"Wow! These are really good!" Zim said to Mary. "These are so good they should sell them in stores!"

"Oh, Thank You! I get a lot of practice. I make these at bake sales at the orphanage I volunteer at."

"Really, I used to volunteer there, and then I blew up the diaper machine. They didn't want me back after that. Well, what do you guys want." Zim said poking around the fridge. "Beer."

His friends just stared at him then laughed.

"That's a good one, Zim!" Tina giggled.

"Yeah. I was joking heh heh," Zim laughed awkwardly.

"You got beer!" Josh shouted. "I want beer!"

"No, no I was just kidding." Zim responded. Josh saw Zim smiling and then focused back on his game. Zim quickly opened his fridge and hid his beer in the crisper then his Bloody Mary mix.

"Okay how about some root beers." Zim asked his crew.

"Yeah, sure." Mary said.

"Me too." Tina shouted.

"Do you have cola?" Josh asked. "…and beer."

"For the last time, I don't have beer!" Zim lied.

"I'll have a cola if you have any." Brian said.

"Sure I do." Zim said as he pulled out two root beers and three colas out of his fridge. He handed his drinks to his guests and opened his can of cola. Then he sat on the couch.

"So what are you guys playing?" Zim asked.

"Psycho Harvest Moon. You go around and cut off people's heads and sell them." Josh said.

"I take the bodies, use them for fertilizer and plant corn on them. The selling price doubles for it."Brian said.

"Cool." Zim said then he heard a banging against the house.

"Girrrrrrrr!" Zim screamed as he ran outside.


	5. Dib versus Zim! Fight!

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 5: Dib versus Zim! Fight!

After Zim pulled Gir from outside for banging the ball against the side of the house, the party continued on. Zim played a little Psycho Harvest Moon. It was for a short time because he already murdered all the people in the game and screamed.

"I AM ZIMMMM! No one is safe from my video killing wrath!" Then he heard a loud crunching sound behind him. Everyone turned around and saw that Gir was in Josh's backpack eating something.

"Did you have any food in that bag?" Zim questioned Josh.

"No just my video gam…Oh no!" Josh screamed. Zim reacted knowing what was happening. Gir was crewing on one of the games. Zim pulled Gir out of the backpack and saw that Gir had the game case in his mouth. Zim pulled the game out of his mouth and handed it to Josh.

"How is it?" Zim said. Josh opened the case and saw that the game was safe.

"It's fine, thank God. I didn't know robots eat games." Josh said.

"They're not supposed to." Zim replied holding Gir back from eating the game again.

"Gir." Zim said politely, "Why don't you make us some snacks."

"Okay dokay!" Gir said as Zim let go of him. Gir ran into the kitchen.

"Now what do you guys want to play?" Josh asked as he fiddled at the rest of his games in his backpack.

"Zombie Hog Monster?" Josh suggested.

"No, we beat that last time at your house, remember?" Brian responded.

"Oh, yeah. Then how about President Man Evil?"

"Too political and realistic." Brian said.

"Yeah, And talk about boring!" Tina exclaimed.

"Then how about Gym Teacher of Doom III." Josh said looking at his last game that Gir chewed on.

"Nope, sorry but I'm not a Gym Teacher fan." Brian said.

"Oh come on!" Josh pleaded. "This is my last game. " Then he looked at Zim. "Do you have any video games?"

"Well, I used to!" Zim continued. "Until I came home late one night and there was hardly any food in the house and he he, Gir ate them including the rentals. Boy, I had to pay Video Outhouse for a month after that!"

"Let's watch a movie!" Mary suggested.

"Yeah, action comedy!" Tina screamed.

"Well," Zim said going through his video DVD collection. "I bought Lost In New York For No Reason for Gir."

"That's one good, let's watch!" Tina exclaimed.

"Gir, we are about to watch a movie, how's the snacks coming along?" Zim asked.

"They are just about done!" Gir screamed back. Then after a few minutes, Gir came out of the kitchen.

"I'm done!" Gir squealed. Gir was holding in his hands a blue tray with weird looking dip in a bowl, a bag of tortilla chips and some bags of not popped popcorn.

"Gir?" Zim questioned. "What's in this dip?"

"Mayonnaise, chicken, raisins, sour cream, bacon pieces and some crushed celery." Gir smiled.

"Well, at least it's all edible." Zim said. "Good Work!"

"YaaaaaaaY!" Gir celebrated by opening a bag of popcorn eating the kernels. Zim placed the tray on the end table and moved it to the middle of the room, and then he picked up the three other bags of popcorn. He was about to pop it until the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Tina said as she opened the door. Zim heard the conversation.

"Hello, yeah he's here, hold on!" Tina said as she shut the door slightly. "It's Dib, Zim, he wants to talk to you!" Tina explained.

"Grrrrr. The one time he does want to talk to me." Zim said as he rolled his eyes.

"Mary!" Zim screamed getting her attention.

"Yes, Zim?" Mary responded.

"Could you pop this for me, this might take awhile." Zim said holding the bags of in his hand.

"Sure." Mary said. Zim handed her the popcorn. She walked into the kitchen as Zim went to the door and opened it. Dib was standing in the doorway. He looked pissed.

"What brings you here, Dib?" Zim said nonchalantly crossing his arms and leaning against the doorway. "I think you would be hanging out with your girlfriend, did she dump you?"

"No, she didn't." Dib shouted to Zim causing Josh, Brian, and even Tina to listen. Gir even kept his ears open too.

"I came here for my Dad's tools!" Dib shouted.

"I do not know what you are talking about, Earth-stink!" Zim denied.

Dib looked into Zim's house and saw his tool box next to the maroon couch.

"Yeah, you do!" Dib pointed at the tool box. "They're right there!"

"Huh, that!" Zim acted surprised. "How do you know that it's yours, it's not like it has your name on it."

"It does, Zim." Dib said annoyed. Zim looked at the tool box and it had Dib's name plastered on the side of the tool box.

"Oh." Zim said surprised for real.

"Look, Zim I don't have time to play around. If I don't return my Dad's tools, he's going to kill me!"

"He's might as well! Your punishment wasn't hard enough!" Zim screamed.

"I got the same punishment as you!" Dib said back.

"Yeah! But Calculus is a piece of cake for you! I'll probably fail it and have to stay an extra year in that filth-hole all because you couldn't keep your nubby hands off your butt-ugly girfr-"

Dib punched Zim in the eye. Zim fell to the floor and hit his head on the table. Josh, Tina, Brian and Gir stared in shock.

"Don't talk about Gretchen that way!" Dib screamed. "If you ever had a girlfriend, Zim, you would understand why I hit you."

"Fine!" Zim standing up again like it wasn't a bid deal. "If you want to handle it that way. I don't understand what makes Gretchen any different than the other girls, but you'll have to prove that to me. But, I have to warn you Dib, I grew a lot stronger than the last time we fought. I will not lose."

"Bring it!" Dib said taunting Zim into the front yard. Zim followed.

"Dang, bring the snacks!" Brian said as he ran outside. "I don't want to miss this!"

Tina, Brian, Josh and Gir ran outside with the snacks. Mary went into the living room with two big bowls of popcorn and noticed that everyone was gone. Then she saw the front door open and walked towards the door and said.

"Hey guys, how about the movie?" Mary asked.

"Forget the movie, Mary. This is more entertaining." Brian said the dip and chips with Josh and Tina. Mary had no idea what was going on until she saw Zim was punching Dib as Dib fell on the fence. Zim was going to punch Dib again in the gut. Dib saw Zim coming and spin off the fence and grabbed Zim's head in a head lock. Zim tried to break free, but couldn't. Zim saw that Dib was going to pull off Zim's wig, to reveal his secret. Zim then found the strength in his struggle and broke free. Then he pushed Dib on the ground. Dib landed on his back and before Dib could get up; Zim was on top of him, sat on his chest and started to choke him.

"That was a cheap shot, Dib, but don't worry, I won't let that happen again!" Zim smirked. Dib couldn't respond. He tried to push Zim off of him but couldn't. Mary saw that Zim was serious because Dib was turning blue.

"Stop it, Zim!" Mary screamed. "You're going to kill him!"

Zim lost his focus on Dib and looked at Mary. He noticed she looked frighten. The others not so much they actually seemed excited in his fight. Zim looked down at Dib and noticed he was indeed looking paler than usual.

"Go ahead and kill him, Zim!" Josh shouted.

"Shut up, Josh!" Tina said. "This looks serious."

Zim let go of Dib and got off him. Dib rolled over and coughed a lot after that.

"What the hell man, you were going to kill me!" Dib wheezed angrily.

"No, I wasn't…" Zim said confused at what he just did and looked down at his hands. "I guess I got carried away. I'm sorry, Dib, I don't know what came over me."

"Well, let's see how you like it!" Dib said pushing Zim over getting ready to choke.

"Wait guys!" Mary said running towards them. "There's no point in killing each other. Can't you guys talk it out?"

"Talk it out?" Zim questioned. Dib looked at her like she was crazy. "But, we have been fighting like this since we were children." Dib explained.

"Yes, and now that you two are much older you can cause serious harm to yourselves." Mary said. Zim and Dib looked at each other and agreed. Then Dib off Zim and they both stood up. Dib punched Zim in the arm.

"Ow!" Zim squeaked.

"That's what you get for choking me, you douche!" Dib stated.

"So…" Zim said still in pain from the punch. "How does this 'talk it out' work?"

"You guys explain to each other why you are frustrated. I will listen to both sides and come up with a solution if there isn't any. Alright Dib, you start first."

"I don't know why you are so mad at me, Zim; I didn't think the project was a big deal for you."

"Not a big deal! Are you crazy, you knew I was failing that class. Now I have to be stuck in another math class and if I fail I might have to repeat Senior year next year. Stupid Credit System!"

"I'm sorry, Zim. I guess I didn't know you failing that bad."

"You know, I was surprised that Mr. Burnman called us genius boys because I was getting a 32% in there."

"Yeah, remember when you signed up for this class, you were like, this is going to be easy, and on the first day of class, Mr. Burnman was drawing all sorts of of physics symbols and situations on the board. When I looked at your face, you looked like a cow that just discovered you were going to be slaughtered." Dib said cracking up.

"Ha, ha, yeah, I was so lost!"

"And then when you were using a formula with pie in it. You looked up the exact numbers for pie and you end up writing the pie numbers for the rest of the period. Then you handed in three full pages of numbers and Mr. Burnman asked what the heck was this."

"Yeah, the dreaded numbers! It just couldn't stop!"

"Then you learned it was suppose to be that way and you were only to use the numbers 3.14. I couldn't stop laughing until lunchtime!"

"Well, you know how much I suck at math, I just don't know why you couldn't help me. I build the machine myself."

"It wasn't Gretchen that stopped me, if that's what you were wondering. She wanted me to help you."

"Oh, then I owe her an apology, huh?"

"Yeah, and it better be a good one because she spent the whole entire lunch period crying in the girl's bathroom. My reason is a bit difficult for me to explain, but I don't care!"

"Huh?" Zim looked confused.

"I'm tired of working all the time and worrying about what's going to happen. Let it happen, it's going to work out eventually and it did! I want to get into mischief, ignore the machines, spit in teacher's coffee and watch them drink. Which I did to all my teachers."

"EWWWW!" Zim said in disgust. "You didn't do that to me did you?"

"No. I did it to almost every authority figure."

"Did you do it to you Dad?" Zim asked.

"Yes!" Dib said proudly. Everyone began to gag.

"He deserves it for letting robots watch us for years. Besides, I am not going to be turned into a boring adult at the age of eighteen without a fight!"

"Boring adult?" Zim said. "What brought this up?"

"Zim, I don't know how to tell you this, but my Dad got me into this Super Science University Skool."

"It's not out of the city, right?"

"No, it's not."

"What's the problem then?" Zim asked.

"I just given up on my paranormal investigating and now my Dad want me to work in his company as soon as I graduate. My Dad's like 'Kiss your childhood goodbye because as soon as you set foot in that university, I do not want you fooling around. I went to that skool when I was your age. Please don't embarrass me!'"

"Wow, I didn't know your Dad can act that serious."

"Me neither." Dib said looking disappointed.

"Ha, ha, ha, simple-minded Dib!" Zim said patting his back. "Don't you want to work with your Dad?"

"Yeah." Dib said.

"Then there is nothing to worry about. He probably meant all the paranormal stuff you got over with. Besides there is no reason to not have any fun after skool.

"Yeah, your right, Zim!" Dib said amazed.

"Besides you miss all the good stuff if you stay seventeen forever. Drinking, gambling, partying at nightclubs, going to concerts and lets not forget choosing to do whatever you want without someone stopping you, unless you want the police involved."

"Holy crap, I forgot all about that stuff."

"Yeah, so next time you have a rebellious streak in you, can you tell me first?"

"Deal!" Dib said holding out his hand and Zim shook it.

"Just one more thing, how am I going to pass calculus? Are you good in that kind of stuff, Dib?"

"Not really, I will have to try on this one. I will pass alright and there are going to be nights where I would have to be experimenting with my Dad. So, I might not be able to help you."

"I can help!" Mary finally spoke.

"You can?" Both Dib and Zim said surprised.

"Sure, I'm great with Math. My Dad is a Mathematician in his lab so he taught me everything. I'm in AP Calculus because of it."

"Really!" Zim said. "And you don't mind?"

"No, not at all." Mary said smiling.

"Oh Thank you Almighty Math Ladyship!" Zim said getting on his knees and began to bow. "Teach me the way of Math! I am in debt to you!"

"Zim, get up." Mary said embarrassed. "People are beginning to stare." Then saw his neighbors and suddenly got up.

"Ha ha. There is my contact lens. Let's go inside."

* * *

Meanwhile at Dib's house, Gaz was sitting on the couch watching "What the Hell is That?" reality series. Gaz purple hair reached under her shoulders matching her black tank top and gray striped long sleeved shirt under it. She was wearing her skull necklace and purple medium skirt with black leggings and big black boots to match. She focused on the TV.

"Is that a spider or a hole?" One person asked the other. Then the spider jumped on the person.

"Yep. That's a spider."

"Heh, heh, he, he…." Gaz laughed.

Then her laughter was short because her stupid brother Dib and his friends came walking in the house. Dib looked a bit different than the last time he came out. I mean, Dib was wearing the same old black cloak covering his so-so face shirt and black jeans and boots, but his face was black and blued. Zim was like that too but they were both happy so she figured they had a tiff and got over it.

"Hey, everyone!" Dib said. "This is Gaz; my sister. Gaz, this is Mary, Josh, Brian and Tina."

"Do you guys have any video games?" Brian asked.

"Yes we do," Gaz said interested. Gaz set up the console and Brian and Gaz played Kitty Fo Fighter. Prof. Membrane walked into the living room. He was wearing his usual work outfit. He noticed that the room was full of teenagers.

"Oh, son! It finally happened! You made lots of normal looking friends!" Prof. Membrane said happily.

"Hey!" Zim snapped offended.

"Oh, never mind." Prof. Membrane said.

"Holy, crap!" Josh said. "Your Dad is the famous Prof. Membrane. Why do I have Bill as your Dad." He said as he looked at his PDA and changed his error.

"The very same." Prof. Membrane said proudly. "Dib, did you find my tools?"

"Yeah, Zim had them." Dib said holding his tool box.

"Zim!" Prof. Membrane said furiously. "I thought we had this talk before! No borrowing stuff without my permission."

"In my defense, Sir," Zim explained. "I needed the tools for our project, but Dib didn't want to help so I took it but I was going to give them back eventually."

"They were missing for a week!" Prof. Membrane said annoyed.

"Well, I'm sorry." Zim said looking guilty.

"It's okay," Prof. Membrane said placing his hand on Zim's shoulder. "Besides, Dib should be saying sorry to you. After all, he didn't help you."

"Exactly." Zim agreed looking at Dib smiling evil-like.

"Hey, don't gang up on me!" Dib defended himself.

"So, do you need help in Calculus Zim, I can help you two out you know." Prof. Membrane offered.

"No, that's okay. Mary's going to help me. I know you're a busy man." Zim said.

"Mary?" Prof. Membrane said looking in the crowd of teenagers.

"I'm Mary." She said waving her hand up in the air. Prof. Membrane saw her and went up to her.

"Hello there, aren't you kind helping Zim out!" He bent down and whispered in her ear. "Don't give up easily on him, he's a good kid, he's just a hard nut to crack."

"I won't, Sir!" Mary said.

"Good! Let's get you guys some snacks!" Prof. Membrane said walking in the kitchen.

"Hey!" Zim snapped. "What did he tell you? Membrane! What did you tell her! Hey, hey, hey, hey, listen to me, hey, hey…"

"Shut up, Zim!" Gaz screamed.

"Okay." Zim peeped.


	6. The Crazy UFO Convention of Doom!

Author's note: Sorry it took awhile! I had to do a lot of editing! Here's Chapter 6! :)

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 6: The Crazy UFO Convention of Doom

Zim came home after his party at Dib's house disperses at 9:30PM. It was now 10:00PM. Zim opened the door and saw that Gir and Minimoose was sleeping on the messy couch half-way covered with potato chips and cookie crumbs. Zim signed. He locked the door, went up the stairs into his room and lay down on his bed. Zim looked around the room viewing all his unfinished inventions. Then he thought to himself what a wonderful day he had. He was able to keep his new friends and was able to make up with his best friend in the same day without revealing his true form. Zim smirked at this thought until a simple question crossed his mind.

'How far can you keep this up?'

"We'll see." Zim answered to himself out loud. "We'll see."

Sunday was a nightmare for Zim because he had to study for Mid-term testing. It sucked because he didn't like jamming his head with knowledge in one day. He had a headache afterward. Monday didn't help either because he had to go to school and take the hardest exam of all, Math in his Algebra III class. Then he had to pass the President's fitness test. Zim and Dib were so worn out that they could hardly move so Prof. Membrane had to pick them up along with the other parents had to pick up their kids from that class. Tuesday's exams was a little better than yesterday's, but he was wondering how his new friends were holding up. It didn't help that he couldn't see them at lunch because they were only having half-days this week until Friday. It was hard to keep contact with them because he forgot to ask their phone numbers or email addresses. Zim has always been horrible at keeping track of communications with others. After two years in Zim and Dib's friendship he didn't even bother to get Dib's phone number until one night…

* * *

4 Years Earlier

"Dib! Dib! Wake up!" Zim screamed knocking at the Membrane residence excitedly. The house lights went on. Dib opened the door.

"Zim, what the hell do you want? It's 3:30 AM! 3:30AM!" Dib screamed angrily.

"I know, I know! But you wouldn't believe what I saw! I was on my roof and I noticed that the stars were falling from the sky! It's the end of the world! So I came here to warn you all." Zim said proud and scared at the same time. "Now get your things before the stars burn them."

Zim looked at his friend and saw how annoyed he was at him.

"That's was a meteor shower, Zim! A meteor show! It's light-years away!" Dib snapped.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh." Zim said amazed feeling a bit stupid and embarrassed. "Well, sorry for bothering you. Continue on with your sleeping. Good Morning!" Zim said walking away.

"Wait!" Dib said stopping Zim from leaving. "Before you go!" Dib walked into his house then came out with a piece of paper.

"Here's my phone number. Just call me so you don't have to come in the middle of the early morning knocking on my door!" Dib then slammed the door in Zim's face.

"Thanks, Dib! See you tomorrow at skool!"

* * *

Wednesday and Thursday came and went like a uselessly slow snail. It was Friday now and Zim was pleased because it meant exams were over and he got to see his friends again.

"Thank the Computer Lord, It's Friday!" Zim said happily.

"You're telling me!" Dib said high-fiving Zim. Gretchen entered the cafeteria, sat next to Dib and kissed him on the cheek. Zim looked away embarrassed. Zim felt a bit guilty.

"Gretchen, I still can't believe you forgave me after I called you a mofo." Zim said.

"Well, at least you apologized." Gretchen said forgiving Zim. Josh, Brian and Tina walked into the half-full cafeteria. Zim waved his hands in the air to get their attention. Dib, Gretchen and Zim were in the back center next to the window. They grabbed their lunch trays and came to the back amazed.

"I can't believe this!" Josh said. "You actually did it! You actually got the cheer-leaders table! Nobody else got to sit there for fifteen years!"

"It wasn't easy, I'll tell you! Those ladies put up a good fight trying to keep me off, but once I sat down, I kept my ground!" Zim laughed evilly.

"Hey can you get us the football team's table Monday." Josh asked.

"Are you crazy? I could kill them!" Zim shouted without hesitation. They all laughed. Zim stopped laughing and noticed someone was missing.

"Hey! Where's Mary? Is she sick?" Zim asked.

"No." Brian said. "She had to return something to the library."

"There she is." Tina pointed out. Zim turned around and saw Mary across the cafeteria. Tina waved at her. Mary waved back nervously. Mary was holding something in her left hand. Mary got her lunch tray and went to their table. Zim saw what she was holding in her hand. It was a bunch of twisted toilet paper with its tips twirled in the air like opening flowers. There was six of them.

"Oh, no!" Josh screamed at the sight of the toilet paper flowers.

"Oh, shit!" Brian screamed also.

"We're doomed!" Tina added.

"Yes," Mary said finally reaching the table. Mary signed. "I'm sorry, but tomorrow is my mother's UFO convention and our table's tradition is that one of my friends has to come with me to convention so I don't have to be left alone with my mother's weirdo friends. We would usually draw straws in this type of situation. Notice that there is three more straws this year than last, so there is a 1/6 chance that it is going to be you." Mary placed her hand with the twisted flowers of doom in the middle of the table. "Pick your straw and draw. If you get the green tipped one, you're it!"

Zim draw his straw and it turned out blank. Zim was relieved. Dib and Gretchen pulled their straw at the same time and got blank. They signed and kissed each other. Tina prayed before she pulled her straw and got blank.

"Thank, God." She said pleased. Brian just pulled his with Josh and got blank while Josh got the green tipped flower.

"Oh, come on! That's not fair! I had to go last year! I'm not going!" Josh decided furiously.

"Please, Josh!" Mary pleaded. "I'll make it up to you."

"No! I made my decision!" Josh said crossing his arms.

"Does anyone want to go in Josh's place?" Mary asked looking at her friends knowing the answer they were going to give her. Dib and Gretchen shook their heads. Tina looked away and didn't bother looking her in the eyes. Mary looked at Brian.

"I can't. I got to wake up early, sell rabbit furs and other useless nick-naks at Farmer's Market with my folks." Brain said. Noticing that no one was even human enough to go to this UFO convention, Zim decides to take one for the team.

"I'll go." Zim said. Everyone was shocked and relieved especially Mary.

"You really mean it!" Mary smiled.

"Of course, I mean, I am in dept to you since you are going to teach me the way of math and if it means having to go to a UFO Convention to pay for it, so be it." Zim said reasoning his decision.

" Dude! You just saved our butts from a boring and weird Saturday! I think this whole table is in dept to you." Josh said. Everyone nodded.

* * *

That Saturday, Zim arrived at the park for the UFO Convention at 1:15PM waiting for Mary to show up. Zim was wearing his usual black gloves, red T-shirt that had black bold letters saying "The world is my oyster and I'm taking it!" on it with a picture of an oyster locked in a crab cage on the back of the shirt, black jeans and white shoes from work. His uniform was in his backpack along with a notebook and pencils if he learned anything interesting at the convention. Zim had lost any contact from the outside world for six years since his banishment. There were still unanswered questions wandering his mind. Was Operation Impending Doom 2 a success? Will Earth be saved or did something happen to his home planet? He hoped that Red and Purple screwed up and got fired. Zim smirked at the thought, and then he saw Mary. She was wearing her usual black jacket, maroon sweater, black skirt and brown boots too, but this time she had her hair up in a pony tail. She ran up to Zim.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." She panted catching up her breath. "My bus was late. I don't know how I can thank you enough for doing this for me."

"Well, help me pass Calculus and I'll call it even." Zim joked and smiled at her.

"Alright." Mary said smiling back. "Follow me." Mary walked into the woods and Zim followed. Mary and Zim moved around the thick forest. There was something on Zim's mind from yesterday that was still bugging him. He wanted to throw it out there but he didn't know if it was appropriate but he decided it to before he changed his mind.

"For some friends you have. You think they would just go with you because that what friends suppose to do but…" Zim stopped himself from saying anymore. Mary turned around and looked at Zim to find an answer to his concern.

"I understand their objections. They all went to the convention and it's the same old shit each year. I don't blame them."

"Oh." Zim said in his response. They continued on and maneuvered around the trees until they reached an open area of land, where it was filled with a lot of people, older and younger men and women alike wearing all sorts of alien related gear from aluminum space saucer hats to alien costumes from popular sci-fi movies. And whenever freaky men and women come, even freakier benders come to try to sell their "alien urine." Zim and Mary past one of these benders.

"Authentic Alien Urine, fifty dollars per jar. Buy for a friend, put it on you mantel! Only fifty bucks!"

'Dang,' Zim thought to himself. 'If only I knew how valuable my own urine was, I wouldn't be flushing it down the toilet.' Zim snickered.

"What's so funny?" Mary asked stopping looking behind her shoulder at Zim.

"Oh, nothing." Zim said and they continued to walk.

"Well, as soon as we reached my mom, this event will be over soon. She says she has a great surprise to show this convention. Apparently, she wants me to be around to see this thing. It's probably that strange Chihuahua again.

"Good." Zim said. "Because these weirdos are staring at me."

"You got no ears!" A little boy screamed pointing at him.

"Let's just keep going." Zim said. Mary kept on leading through the crowd until they reached this red banner with white bold white letters that says "UFO Convention 2031." Below the banner supported by the trees behind it, a medium man-made stage was displayed with a red curtain held by the same trees holding the secret surprise behind it. Mary went on the stage.

"Mom! I'm here. Where are you?" Mary called. She was going to check behind the curtain, until her mother came out of the red curtain.

"Oh, there you are Mary!" Her mother said pleased in her usual high shrilled voice. "You came just in time. Who's your friend there?" She said pointed to Zim who was sitting on the stage waiting patiently. Zim stood up on the stage when Mary's mom acknowledged him. Zim saw that Mary and her mother's resemblances are amazing. They looked almost like twins. Her mother had the same hair, skin color and height as Mary except for Mary's mother wore glasses. Her mother was wearing fake alien antennas band in her curly red hair, a white lab coat, underneath it, a light pink shirt, black pants and brown shoes. Zim then knew who she was because they have met before at the last convention where he was captured. The only difference from her appearance back was that she was a lot younger then she was now.

"Hello, I am the Great Mother of the Bright and Shiny Children, Yoa, and who might you be?" Yoa pronounced gracefully.

"Uh, it's Zim." He said nervously.

"Zim!" Great Mother of the Bright and Shiny children Yoa said suddenly grabbing Zim's arms looking up at him. "You are my child."

"No. I am not." Zim said pushing her away from him. Yoa was curious at his response.

"Mom, what is it that you had to show us?" Mary asked.

"Oh, yeah," Yoa remembered. "It's the greatest thing we have ever captured."

"Captured?" Mary questioned her mother. "What do you mean?"

"Mary!" Yoa said grabbing her daughter's shoulders. "I finally did it! We finally caught a real life alien!"

"No way." Mary said in disbelief. "You're lying."

"Well, you be the judge when I reveal him. Too bad your friend Josh couldn't be here, he would have loved it. You two get off the stage. The show is about to begin." The Great Mother Yoa said holding her microphone. Mary and Zim got off the stage into the crowd of awaiting fans.

"It can't be a real alien." Mary muttered to herself with her arms crossed. Zim hoped Mary was right.

"Fellow Children of Earth! Gather around and I will show you the great wonders of a real life alien!" Yoa said engaging the crowd. "Behold!" Yoa pulled down the curtain. It revealed a small, yet medium round creature in a medium bared cage. The creature had red, burning eyes, green lightly burned skin, two antennas on top of his big head and it wore a invader uniform.

'Oh my God!' Zim thought to himself knowing who it was. 'It's Skoodge!' Zim's jaw dropped and so did Mary's when everyone was ohhhing and awwwing.

"Amazing, isn't it? We found him when we were in San Francisco last October. He was passing as a ice cream man mascot on the street until we were wise to his antics!"

"Are you crazy?" Mary screamed in anger. "You kidnapped this guy off the street and put him in a cage to tour him around like a zoo animal! Are you completely insane?"

"Well," Yoa tried reasoning to her daughter. "It is our sworn duty to study and examine this alien for humanity. We must know the secrets of the universe from him and because he won't tell us, we have no choice but to keep him. He's being treated well."

"Treated well?" Mary questioned looking at the creature. "You call having burn marks, dirty worn out clothes and living in a cage, 'treated well'!" Mary went on the stage while Zim stayed well hidden in the crowd hoping no one can see the resemblance of Skoodge to his appearance. Mary looked in the cage of the confused yet helpless Irken. "Is he eating out of this dog food bowl?" Mary said looking at her mother.

"All we know is that he eats dog food." Yoa said. Mary glared at her mother.

"Unbelievable!" Mary walked up to the cage and bent down looking at the cage.

"What are you doing?" Yoa asked her daughter. Then she realized what she was doing. "Oh, don't you even think about it! Star-chunk! Grab her!" Star-chunk went up to Mary and grabbed the wrist she was using to free Skoodge from the cage, then she tried her other hand and he grabbed her again and stood up with her. Then he faced Mary to her mother.

"How dare you disobey me, your own mother and embarrass me in front of my friends and co-workers! We will have to discuss your punishment!" Yoa said furiously. Mary just smirked and said.

"Well, you don't need to constrain me for that. Now would you mind?" She looked at Star-chunk. "It feels awfully uncomfortable for a grown man like you to keep hold of a minor."

"It's Okay Star-chunk! Let her go. Mary, say goodbye to your friend and meet me in my RV." Yoa said to Mary. Star-chunk let go of the girl. Mary looked at Zim and smiled.

"Well Zim, goodbye. See you at skool. I give you the details later!" She said winking, Zim nodded. Mary then followed her mother to the RV behind the stage. Zim then dashed off from the convention coming up with a plan of his own.


	7. Skoodge, The Rescue!

Author's Note: Whoo Yooo! Another Chapter! That was quick! XD

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 7: Skoodge, the Rescue!

Zim was shocked to find Skoodge on Earth. Maybe he was banished here Zim thought but whatever the reason he had to rescue Skoodge to find out what happened to the world he once knew.

"I can't believe he got captured! I thought he was a lot smarter than that. Damn, I was captured plenty of times and was still able to escape." Zim said aloud running out of the woods. "Well, whatever. I'll have to bust his ass out. It's the Invader Code of Honor! At least I think it is. I don't remember if we even had an honor code." Zim got out of the park to his bus stop. Then the bus pulled up to the stop. 'What luck' he thought to himself and got on the bus. He showed the bus driver his transfer ticket and sat down. Zim was full of excitement that he had a hard time restraining his smile. This is the first time he actually got to go on an Invader related mission for long time. Zim was pleased. Then he pulled the bus cord up to his neighborhood and got off the bus. Then 20 minutes later he was at his front door. He was then greeted by Gir and Minimoose. Zim ignored them and wondered around the house looking for supplies to bust the cage open. Gir and Minimoose stared at each other then looked at their excited master.

"What cha doing?" Gir asked.

"Going on a mission to rescue Skoodge!" Zim blurted out without thinking. Then he covered his mouth. It was too late.

"Can I come too?" Gir pleaded.

"NO, Gir, I can't afford any distractions!" Zim said looking down on Gir. Gir started to cry.

"But….I" Gir sniffed. "I wanna GGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zim covered his antennas under his black-haired wig for a about four minutes of Gir screaming his head off. Zim finally gave in and thought of a way to use Gir in his plan.

" Gir!Gggggirrrrrrrrrr!" Zim screamed back to get his attention.

"OOoooooooooo. Yes?" Gir answered him.

"Fine. You can come but you have to listen to me, understand?" Zim said to Gir.

"Do a do a do, what?" Gir looked up at Zim.

"Umph, never mind. Just let me gather some tools and we'll be off." Zim said. Zim pondered to himself what would be a good tool to unlock the cage. All he could think of that was awesome to use was lasers and that is what he found; a hand-held laser that he hid in the cushions of the couch, as for hid, I mean lost.

"Damn, good thing the safety was on or I would be in jail for the endangerment of four teenagers. Now to find something to carry Skoodge in, ah, my backpack!" Zim said as he dumped his ugly uniform on the floor with his notebook and pencils.

"Skoodge is so small, it would be like carrying a baby," Gir said sweetly to Zim.

"Na-huh!" Zim defended embarrassed at the comment.

"Ya-huh! Can I carry him." Gir asked his master.

"No you'll drop him!" Zim said putting his laser in the backpack and placing it over his right shoulder. "Time to look the part as well." Zim said going upstairs to his room. Zim opened his closet door and changed out of his oyster shirt into a black T-shirt and then found his black coat and put that on as well. Then he grabbed a different disguise for Gir to wear and stuffed it in his pack. It was just about evening.

"Now it is time to go to Dib's house!" Zim said walking down the stairs to get Gir's attention. "I'm sure he has lots of stuff for this kind of thing." Zim and Gir went out the front door leaving Minimoose behind. Minimoose squeaked and decided to watch some TV.

Zim walked over to Dib's house, went up the driveway and knocked on the front door. Prof. Membrane answered the door. He saw that Zim was dressed in all black and became curious.

"Zim, what are you doing in this hour of the night?" Prof. Membrane asked directly.

"I gotta bust one of my Irken Invader buddies from a bunch of crazy UFO convectors." Zim explained. "If I don't, he will die. Also, I need to borrow some stuff from Dib." Prof. Membrane looked at Zim strangely then said.

"Oh. Okay. Just don't stay out too long or you'll catch a cold and if you get caught ask for a lawyer and don't tell them anything, got it?" Zim nodded. "Okay," Prof. Membrane continued on. "Dib should be up in his room..."

"Thanks! See you later Membrane!" Zim said running up the stairs leaving Gir behind. Gir decided to roll on the front lawn.

"With his girlfriend." Prof. Membrane said finishing his sentence but it he was already gone. "You think he needs to know that part. Oh, well." Prof. Membrane thought to himself as he sat down on the couch with his daughter, Gaz.

"What is he up too?" Gaz asked her father.

"Don't know?" Membrane plainly said and continued to watch TV.

Zim reached Dib's room and opened the door. Zim was surprised by what he saw. Dib was on top of Gretchen making out, getting ready to take her shirt off on Dib's bed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Zim screamed furiously embarrassed by what he saw.

"Oh, Dad!" Dib said getting off of Gretchen quickly. "I can explain. See, Gretchen had a stain on her shirt and…" Dib turned around and saw it was Zim with his arms crossed listening to his excuse. "Zim, it was just you!" Dib said relieved. "Get the hell outta here!" Dib said furiously throwing a pillow at Zim's head. "Have you ever heard of knocking?"

"Yeah!" Gretchen agreed pulling her shirt back down. "I was indecent!"

"Oh, never mind that now! I didn't see anything!" Zim said to Gretchen. "Oh, nice tattoo by the way. Butterflies sure are priceless!" Zim said quickly smirking a bit. Then Gretchen threw an even harder pillow at his stomach causing him to fall on his back. "Oww….Nice one!" Zim said atlas and got up.

"Yo. Dib! Can I talk to you in private?" Zim asked his buddy.

"No, go away!" Dib said pushing Zim out of his room.

"But, it is important!" Zim pleaded to Dib before he closed his door.

"More important than the time you told me to flush the toilet after I peed." Dib said annoyed.

"Even more important than that, it's Irken!" Zim then said seriously. Dib knew it was serious once Zim said that word and turned to his girlfriend.

"Gretchen, I am really hungry, can you make me some toast?"

" Sure, Dib!' Gretchen said politely. "What do you want on it?"

"Whatever you're having, I don't care." Dib said sweetly.

"Okay." Gretchen got up from the bed and left the room.

"Thank you!" Dib said smiling waving at Gretchen when she was about to go down the staircase. Gretchen waved back and went downstairs.

"Well, Zim," Dib said looking at his friend. "Talk to me."

"I went to the UFO Convention and saw that Skoodge was there captured by Mary's mother, so now I'm gonna bust him out."

"Why?" Dib questioned Zim. "Don't you hate those invaders?"

"No, I don't hate my own kind. I just hate those two!" Zim explained. "Besides, Skoodge helped me out plenty of time, I could at least help him once…" Zim finished feeling a bit embarrassed by what he said. Dib just smirked.

"Awwwww. Zim made a friend. How cute!" Dib said then he started laughing.

"Stop laughing!" Zim demanded. "Are you going to help me or what?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Dib said regaining the serious nature of the issue. "So what do you need?"

"Need something to disguise myself and to see clearly through the forest." Zim spat out.

"Okay, how about some night vision goggles and let's see..." Dib said rummaging through his closet handing him the goggles.

"Hurry up!" Zim said looking out the door. "Gretchen is gonna come in any minute now!"

"No she isn't." Dib said pleased. "My Dad's down there and she's carrying toast."

"Oh, yeah, right!" Zim said realizing what Dib meant. "The toast story!"

* * *

Down Stairs

Gretchen was carrying the plate of toast to the living room until she saw Prof. Membrane behind her staring at her plate. Prof. Membrane looked interested in what she was carrying.

"Did I ever tell you that I was the inventor of Super Toast!" Prof. Membrane said taking one of the toasts off her plate and holding it up in the air.

"Here we go!" Gaz said annoyed.

* * *

"Okay you can use my Dad's cloaking jacket. When you turn this button on, it will turn you invisible, but only for a short time because I forgot to replace the batteries." Dib explained.

"What do they take?" Zim asked thinking he might be able to find some.

"Four C sizes." Dib said.

"Damn!" Zim snapped.

"I know!" Dib agreed. "What are you planning to do with Skoodge once you rescue him?"

"I don't know?" Zim said. "Listen to what happen to him, get some information and I guess send him back to space."

"With, what?" Dib asked curiously.

"You Know..." Zim said grinning at Dib. Dib knew what Zim met by his remark and said in despair.

"Not Tak's ship!" Dib said hoping it didn't come to that.

"Yes, Tak's ship." Zim continued. "You had that thing for a long time and you still can't figure out how to fly it."

"It's because Gaz won't tell me!" Dib said in defense.

"I don't think she'll ever tell you." Zim said making Dib realize his situation.

"You're right!" Dib said. "I guess he can use it."

"Thanks, Dib." Zim said sincerely. "Alright, I will be back here with Skoodge tonight. If I don't come back by morning, I have been captured so you'll have to bust my ass out."

"Fine." Dib said displeased on what he had to do.

"I'm back!" Gretchen said catching both of them off guard. They looked at her amazed.

"Whoa, Dib, she's a keeper!" Zim said elbowing Dib. "She only was down there for 10 minutes."

"Yeah," Dib agreed. "The shortest time I been with the toast story was an hour. Gretchen, how did you escape my Dad's ranting?"

"Told him my ancestors invented the toaster, then he backed away in shame." Gretchen simply said eating one of the toast pieces. Zim and Dib both looked at each other, surprised.


	8. Skoodge, The Rescue! Part II

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 8: Skoodge, the Rescue Part II

Zim left Dib's house and caught the next bus outside his neighborhood to the park. He was glad that the buses ran until one in the morning or he would be out of luck. Zim put on the cloaking jacket and used it to get through the forest without hurting himself on the branches. Then half-way towards the checkpoint where Skoodge is held, he reached out for Gir in his backpack.

"Hi!" Gir squealed. "I can come out now!"

"SHHHhhhh." Zim whispered. "Now listen closely, fly up in the sky and see how guarded Skoodge is."

"But, I would look like a flying dog." Gir reasoned to his master.

"That's why I changed you into your bird disguise, remember?" Zim said looking at Gir's new disguise as a big green robin. The whole costume consumed his body that the only thing that looked like Gir was eyes poking out of the eye holes.

"Oh, yeah…" Gir remembered and saluted Zim as he flew up into the sky. Gir viewed the area with his own night vision eyes and saw about five guys walking around the perimeter of the stage. Then in the back, there was a single recreation vehicle and a pinched up blue tent that one big guy was blocking. Gir flew down and told his master what he saw.

In the tent were the caged up Skoodge and Mary being held against their will. It was cold in the tent and she saw that Skoodge was shivering. She then took off her jacket and placed it on the alien in the bared cage. Mary signed as she clenched her hands on her arms to adjust to the cold.

"Sorry for my mother's behavior." Mary finally said. "Then again, I shouldn't apologize for her. If I knew you were here, I would have freed you weeks ago, so I'm sorry."

Then Skoodge heard the girl's apology and sat up in interest. Mary looked at the alien as well. The alien looked confused to her.

"I'm sorry. You probably don't understand what I am saying, do you?" Mary asked.

Skoodge then nodded. Mary was shocked.

"You, do!" She said excited. "Well, can you speak English?"

Skoodge shook his head.

"Of course you don't," Mary said to herself. "Hell, if you did, you probably be out of here already."

Skoodge then smiled a bit and went back to his miserable self. He looked at his burn marks on his arms and flinched.

"How did you get those burns? Did those guys do it to you?" Mary asked looking at the marks. She reached in the cage and held Skoodge little hand to have a good look at them. Skoodge sadly shook his head and pointed his food bowl.

"Oh my God!" Mary said furiously. "They are feeding you stuff you are allergic too! That's it! I'm tired of sitting on my butt! I'm busting you out!" Skoodge seemed excited by what Mary said. Mary looked around the tent. Then she saw that it was completely empty. 'Perfect!' She thought sarcastically. She then dug through her skirt pockets and found a few paper clips, then she remembered that she had some bobby pins in her hair that would do much better. She took one out of her hair and went to the key hole. Outside the tent Mary's mom, Yoa, was coming out of the RV. A fellow comrade greeted her as they both walked towards the tent.

"Good evening, Mother Yoa." Said the man.

"How are they?" She asked him.

"Fine, but Ma'am, are you sure that it is wise to have your daughter with the alien?" The trooper asked.

"It was better than having her glare at me and say nothing besides, she only been in there for ten minutes. She can't do anything under that time schedule." Yoa stated amazed by her reasoning. Then Mary bolted out of the tent with Skoodge in her arms wrapped in her black jacket.

"After her!" Yoa screamed. Star-chunk grabbed her arm at once holding her left arm in the air as she held Skoodge with her right arm towards her chest. Zim, in the bushes outside where the tent was, saw that Mary and Skoodge were captured again. He listened carefully.

"Let go of me!" Mary screamed kicking at Star-chunk which made him pull her away from him like something disgusting. "Can't you guys see what you are doing is wrong? If this alien was a dog, you guys would be sued for animal abuse not to mention neglect!"

"But," Yoa finally said. "This animal is not a dog, so they can't touch us. Nobody would really care as long as he looks the part. They would just see an alien."

"Yeah, you're right!" Mary said and continued. "They will see an alien, but do you think that the public is that stupid to see the burn marks on him?"

"No," Yoa said walking towards Mary holding Skoodge arm looking at the burn marks and then in Mary eyes. "That's why we will fix him up before we reveal him to the Mega Alien Life Convention next week to real reporters." Mary stared at her mother with pure hatred and held on to Skoodge for dear life.

"Star-chuck, take the alien out of her arms and you" Yoa pointed out to some guy. "Take him back to his cage."

"No!" Mary screamed as Star-chunk grabbed Skoodge and pulled him out of her arm. Then he hand Skoodge to one of his believers.

"Take her in my RV!" Yoa demanded. "I would like to have a word with my daughter." Star-chunk went to Yoa's RV still holding Mary in his hand. Yoa followed him. Zim watched and saw the man taking Skoodge back into the blue tent. Zim activated the cloaking devise and took caution while walking around. Gir followed Zim and acted like a bird. Then the guard saw the bird and went to stare at it. Zim moved around the guard coming to have a look at Gir.

"Wow! Look at that bird! It's huge!" The man screamed. Then more men stared at the bird. The guard blocking the entrance of the blue tent wanted to see the bird and walked away. Zim saw his opportunity and went inside the tent. Gir seeing that the guard was coming towards him, knew it was time to sing, and he did!

"TWEEEEEEEET! TWEEEEET! TWEEET! MEOW! TWEET! TWEET! TWEEEEEEET!" Gir screamed as loud as he can. This drew more attention on him.

Zim smirked at his plan going into action. He saw that Skoodge saw him. Zim went up to the cage and Skoodge took a step back. Zim wanted to show him that he was on his side so he bent down to Skoodge's level, took off his right contact lenses to expose a dark red glowing Irken eye. Skoodge understood and prepared for his escape as Zim fired the laser.

Meanwhile, in the RV, Star-chunk placed Mary in one of her armed chairs and left Yoa alone with her daughter.

"Sweetie," Yoa spoke to her softly. "I don't mean to be cruel. It just that humanity needs this more that we had to break a few rules."

"For the good of humanity, you say?" Mary said repeating her mother's words.

"Yes," Yoa continued. "And…"

"How good would humanity look if you treat your only visitor as a slave?" Mary interrupted. "Don't you think that his own kind is looking for him? It would be really stupid if you started a global war over this!"

"I don't think they are looking for him." Yoa said. "We had him for a very long time, besides, when he is treated better and seen as a God, he would be happier."

"Sounds like an endless Hell to me." Mary muttered to herself. Yoa heard the comment and continued on.

"You'll see. After all, how old are you again." Yoa asked her daughter trying to change the subject.

"Sixteen, birthday in May, mom." Mary plainly spoke.

"Oh yeah, right! Well, next year, you'll be eighteen in May right?" Yoa asked her daughter.

"Yeah." Mary said.

"How about you join me on the road after you graduate? I know how much you love helping me out with my conventions ever since you were little. How about you join your mother for real?" Yoa asked her daughter in excitement. Mary could not believe what her mother was asking in such an inappropriate time. Mary then just grinned. Yoa saw that her daughter seemed pleased.

"You know," Mary said happily continuing on. "It is every daughter's desire to be just like their mother, following what they have learned from them for the rest of their lives…" Yoa smiled at Mary's response. "But, it is not mine!" Mary said seriously, breaking her smile. Then she looked her mother straight in the eyes and sat still as she possibly could. Yoa was shocked how serious her daughter looked at her and Mary continued on.

"You may have thought that I liked what you were doing for the early years of my life, but you were dead wrong! Dead wrong from the start! I came to your conventions every year thinking that you would change, that you would give up what you were doing and be my mom for once, but I see that it was false hope on my hand. Now that you captured an alien, I don't think you'll ever stop. So for my own sake, I don't want to see you again."

"But," Yoa said furiously. "I'm your mother! You can't just stop seeing me!"

"You're not my mother!" Mary responded back. "You're still that obsessed woman that left my Dad and me years ago, but I guess you can't accept that can't you, Great Mother Yoa."

"Why you little…" Yoa said furious at what her daughter said. Yoa charged right at her getting ready to slap her. Mary sat still, awaiting her slap, until the door quickly open to show one of Yoa's lackeys breathing hysterically.

"Ma'am, the alien escaped!" He said.

"What?" Yoa screamed at the man ignoring her daughter and turned to the man.

"Apparently," The man continued showing the burned up lock. "The lock was shot off!"

"Damn it!" Yoa said to the man. "Go look for him!"

"Right!" The man said and told the other what Yoa told him. Mary stood up from her chair and brushed herself off.

"It 's way past my curfew," Mary said nonchalantly. "I see that you're going to be busy for awhile so I going to go home now. I let myself out." Mary walked by her mother at the doorway then Yoa grabbed her daughter's arm and looked her in the eyes.

"No matter what you say, think or believe I will always be your mother!" Yoa said seriously. "Every time you look in the mirror, I will be there!"

"No, every time I look in the mirror, I will be there!" Mary rebuttal. She shook herself of Yoa's grasped and walked into the field of chaos trying to find the missing alien. She saw her black jacket on the ground and picked it up. She shook off the excess dirt and put it on. She walked into the woods, out of the woods and in the park. She sat at her bus stop bench waiting. She brushed off a strand of her hair from her cheek and felt a few tears on her right hand. She didn't know when or where she cried it. All she knew was it was some good tears, because for a little while, she knew her and Skoodge was finally freed.


	9. Skoodge, The Rescue!  Part III last part

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 9: Skoodge, the Rescue part III

Zim was running through the woods with Skoodge in his backpack. He was holding the bottom of the pack so Skoodge wouldn't fly out while he was running. He looked behind him and noticed nobody was following him and stopped. Zim panted and put his pack gently down on the ground. He opened the backpack and saw that Skoodge was asleep. Zim shook him a little to see if he would reply, but Skoodge was knocked out cold. Zim noticed he was breathing and signed in relief.

"For a minute there, I thought I was carrying a corpse." Zim said quietly. Then he looked in the air and saw Gir flying towards him. Gir became frantic.

"Master," Gir spoke as he landed. "There are lots of people running around like headless chickens! I want to eat them!"

"Gir, no eating human! There bad for you!" Zim snapped. "We are half-way through the forest, let's go!" Zim continued to run while Gir flew out of the park. Zim was out on the street next to the bus stop where he met Gir and looked at his watch. It was 10:25PM. He had five minutes before the bus came. He took of the cloaking devise and placed it next to Skoodge in his backpack. He fixed his wig and wiped the sweat off his face and fixed up his clothes to look as normal as possible. Zim saw Gir burping with his fake bird beak open. He knew he wouldn't be able to take him on the bus.

"Gir," Zim said grabbing his attention. "It's gonna be a long night, why don't you fly home without me?"

"Do I have to?" Gir said to his master.

"Yes, I think it would be a good idea." Zim said to Gir.

"But I can't." Gir said. Zim became angry by what Gir said.

"Why not!" Zim blurted out. "Did you forget you're guidance chip again? That got to be like the hundredth time you lost that thing!"

"No, that's not it." Gir said. Zim looked at the robot curiously. "I just don't want to leave you master, you might get captured again and leave me and Minimoose alone and he doesn't play fair in gold fish without you scolding him!" Zim saw how childish his robot was acting, and then realized Gir was really concerned for him and Minimoose cheating. Zim went on his knees to reason with his friend.

"I will not get captured, Gir. Skoodge and I are going to be fine, but right now I got to get on the bus to Dib's house to take Skoodge home. The bus is going to be here in a minute. I'll tell you what, why don't you leave when I go on the bus, then you'll know that Skoodge and I are safe, okay?"

"How will I know you made it to Dib's place?" Gir asked still concerned.

"I'll call home as soon as I get there and leave a message." Zim said.

"Okay!" Gir then peeped and hugged his master. Zim looked around seeing if anyone was staring at the hideous green bird hugging him, then Zim hugged him back. The bus turned the corner down Zim's street. Zim let go of the robot as he went on the bus. Zim showed to transfer ticket again and sat down on the bus with his backpack on his lap. Zim waved Gir good bye through his window and Gir took off home. Zim sat on the bus for awhile until he pulled the cord to his neighborhood and got off. Zim put his backpack on carefully and walked to Dib's house. It took Zim about ten minutes to make it there. He saw that the garage was wide open with Dib working on Tak's ship.

"Yo. Dib!" I'm here!" Zim said waving at Dib.

"Well, it's about time!" Dib said annoyed looking at Zim. "It took you two hours to rescue that alien?"

"Yeah, rescuing is not an easy job you know? You should try it sometimes. Plus, he's really heavy." Zim responded.

"I already did." Dib said to Zim while working on the ship. Zim knew what he meant and continued on.

"So why are you working on the ship? I thought the ship was in perfect condition." Zim said to Dib.

"It would have been in perfect condition if someone didn't steal the tools from it for a week!" Dib said annoyed reminding Zim of his mistake.

"Oh, right!" Zim remembered. "So how long will it take until it is safe to take off?"

"Probably another two hours if we are lucky." Dib said.

"Well, I gotta borrow your phone quick. Be back in a minute. "Zim said running into the house. Zim went into the kitchen and dialed his number and left a message. "Gir, I'm at Dib's house now, you don't need to worry about me, I'm fine." Zim turned around and saw that Gaz was standing behind him. Gaz just smirked.

"Someone is worried about you?" Gaz said opening a can of poop soda.

"Yeah, it's called compassion; maybe you should try it sometimes. It would change your whole outlet on living." Zim said walking out of the kitchen.

"You're not going to fly that thing are you?" Gaz said surprising Zim making him stop and turn around.

"Yeah, what it's to ya?" Zim asked curious at Gaz's comment.

"Well, you should at least test drive that thing if you don't want your alien friend to explode!"

"How do you know about Skoodge?" Zim demanded. "Tell me!"

"He is sticking out of your backpack." Gaz stated. "It's hard not to see him."

Zim looked over his shoulder and saw that Skoodge was hanging out of the bag by his foot. Then he stuffed him back in his bag.

"Oh, well…." Zim said looking at Gaz. "What do you suggest?"

"A pilot to test the ship." Gaz recommended then took a slip at her soda. She looked at Zim and held out her left hand towards him.

"Okay, how much?" Zim said digging out of his pocket.

"Fifty buck!" Gaz said.

"What? You got to be out of it if you think I'm paying you that much!" Zim shrieked.

"Well…I guess Skoodge's safety is too much for you." Gaz said leaving the kitchen. "I hope you like cleaning alien guts, Zim cause that's what you're going to get if you let my brother work on that thing alone."

"No, He'll fix the ship perfectly." Zim reasoned with her.

"No he won't." Gaz plainly stated. "Dib's been out of it lately. He's been screwing up on Dad's inventions a lot that he had to kick Dib out of the lab for a week. Why do you think he put off on the ship maintenance?" Zim didn't say anything after that. He didn't know his friend was having machine problems he looked at the open door to the garage with Dib working on the ship. He looked frustrated.

"You have my fly it and I will make sure it safe and as an added bonus I will help fix the ship. After all, who was the one who screwed up the ship in the first place?" Gaz said reminding Zim what he did.

* * *

One month earlier

"Dude, we should, we should fly Tak's ship now!" Zim said drinking a bottle of his beer with Dib in the garage. Dib was drinking a beer bottle that Zim gave him. They were laughing at the idea.

"Yeah, that that would by funny!" Dib spat out. "People would be freaking out and wonder what was going on! Then we spit on them."

"Yeah, let's do it!" Zim said getting up stumbling a bit. "I'm serious let. Let's do it!"

"No, dude you drunk so is I." Dib said to Zim trying to stop him.

"Nawww….I'm not drunk!" Zim said putting himself in the ship. "I'm good, I will fly this ship back to space and tell them, tell them they suck!" Zim manage the controls and made the ship hover a bit. Then it took a hard left turn into a box of X-mas decorations. The ship activated its evacuation seat and sprigged him out of the ship. Zim landed on his back.

"Yep. I'm drunk." Zim said.

"That was, that was cool!" Dib said drinking more out of the bottle.

"What's going on?" Prof. Membrane said slamming the door open. He saw that the ship crashed in the decorations. Then he saw that Dib was holding one of the beer bottles and saw a couple of empty bottles on the garage floor.

"He started it!" Dib pointed at Zim lying unconscious.

Author's Note: And children, that is why drinking and flying is bad! BAD!

* * *

"Yeah, I had to pay for all the X-mas decorations, clean the garage, write a well written report on why it was bad to drink while driving, giving alcohol to minors and drinking the beer myself all in one hang over. Alright Gaz, you win! Here's your fifty bucks!" Zim said slamming the money in her hand. Gaz looked at the money pleased.

"You see, Zim I can be compassionate at the right price!" Gaz said counting her money. Zim and Gaz walked into the garage while Dib was working on the control panels of the ship.

"Gaz, why are you here?" Dib asked his sister.

"Zim paid me." Gaz said holding the money in her hand.

"Yeah, she's going to test drive the ship and help us with it." Zim said feeling fifty bucks shorter.

"Alright. Gaz, help me with this control panel." Dib said handing her a screw driver.

"I'm gonna have a look at Skoodge." Zim said putting his backpack down. He took Skoodge out of his pack and looked at his burns. 'Those are pretty bad.' Zim thought. Then he shuffled in his backpack's front zipped pocket and brought out a blue container. He unscrewed the cap and took some of the cream and smeared it on one of the burns. Within minutes, the burn was starting to close up and heal. Zim placed more of the cream on his burns. He realized that he had to see if he had anymore burns so he decided to take off his torn up invader shirt. Gaz saw what he was doing.

"Zim, are you going to rape him!" Gaz said out loud.

"No! You perverted dumbass!" Zim snapped at Gaz. "I got to see if he has anymore burns." Zim looked at the Skoodge's chest and saw more burns on him. Then he placed more cream on the burns. Zim looked at Dib and said.

"I'm gonna need to borrow one of your shirts." Dib looked at the half-naked alien and at his torn up shirt.

"Fine. But not any of the good one's!" Dib finally said. Zim went up to Dib's room and got a shirt off of his floor, it was a poop soda shirt that Gaz originally won at a poop soda contest drink off, that Dib stole from her . After that, Gaz didn't want it back. It was perfect. Then he ran back down and put it on Skoodge. Zim left the sleeping alien and helped with the ship.

* * *

Skoodge awoke from his slumber confused. He sat up holding his head wondering where he was. He looked around and saw he was in a room full of open and unopened boxes. In the middle of the room he saw three creatures working on a red ship that had Irken sign on the top front of the ship. He looked at each of the creatures. He saw a human male with weird looking black hair fix the front of the ship that looked bent out of shape with a wielding flame wearing a mask, another female human wearing a wielding mask sitting in the cockpit resting her feet on the control panels, and then, the being that rescued him from the UFO convectors fixing the other side of the ship. The fellow looked Irken due to his skin color but he was tall. This freaked Skoodge out.

"Who are you?" Skoodge shouted at Zim in his Irken language. Zim understood what he said while Gaz and Dib looked at Skoodge wondering what he said in a large squeaking manner. Zim looked at Skoodge funny. Zim stood up.

"Jeez, Skoodge," Zim said taking off his wig and eye contacts to reveal his true form. Zim's antennas popped up in the air while his magenta bug eyes adjusted to the light. "You think you would recognize one of your old buddies, I recognized you, man. I'm hurt." Skoodge thought to himself for a minute and shook his head.

"No. I don't remember you. Who are you again?" Skoodge said in Irken.

"It's me! Zim!" Zim spoke in Irken too.

"Zim! I thought you were dead!" Skoodge looked surprised.

"Yeah, I have that affect on people!" Zim said to Skoodge. Dib and Gaz was wondering what they were talking about.

"Dib, do you understand any of this?" Gaz asked her brother.

"Only a little bit…" Dib said looking at the Irkens carefully. "I think they are talking about someone dead."

"What?" Gaz looked puzzled.

"So Skoodge, what brings you down here?" Zim asked. "Were you banished here too?"

"No, I was doing some research for our mission." Skoodge continued on. "I'm on a top secret mission from the Tallest!"

"Yeah, and so was I." Zim said. "How do you know it wasn't a fake mission?"

"Oh, it's not! It is a very important mission." Skoodge said proudly.

"Cut the crap! What's the mission?" Zim snapped at Skoodge which made Skoodge jumped a bit.

"I can't tell you!" Skoodge sneered at Zim.

"Tell me or no ship!" Zim demanded. Skoodge saw it was a perfectly good ship that it maybe flyable that he had no choice but to tell him. He figured Zim couldn't do anything about it anyways.

"I was on a mission to find the most abundant fuel substance in the universe. I was going planet to planet finding what would be a useful substance to help our mission for Impending Doom 2 against the Meekrobs."

"You're still battling those people?" Zim sounded unimpressed.

"We wouldn't be if you didn't blow up everything you touched." Skoodge snapped back.

"Well, than it was better that I was banished!" Zim said offended. "I don't need to take your crap, now if you excuse me; I need to talk to my buddies for a bit!" Zim went up to Gaz and Dib pissed off.

"Stop working on the ship!" Zim snapped.

"But, Zim." Dib said.

"If he's not going to be grateful then fuck it. I'm going out for a while." Zim said putting on his disguise and walked out of the garage. Dib and Gaz stopped their work and looked at Skoodge. Skoodge looked at Zim while he was leaving and notice he was not wearing his Invader Pak life support anymore. Skoodge became shocked.

"How…how is he living without it?" Skoodge muttered out loud. Dib sat down next to Skoodge and said in Irken.

"Zim had hard life after banish. Took while to save you. He tried even risk his life." Skoodge looked at the kid confused and said.

"I understand English so you don't need to talk Irken."

"Oh thank god!" Dib said relieved. "I only know so many words. It is not a very good idea to bring up such things to Zim. It took him a long time to adjust to his new life here and it been awhile since I actually seen him happy. He wanted to rescue you because he wanted to make up for the mistakes he made in the past. He wanted to owe you one for saving him many times in his life. You should probably apologize to him if you want off this planet because I won't help you if you don't."

Skoodge thought about what the human said and went outside of the garage to find Zim sitting on the curb of the sidewalk. His head was resting on his hands with his elbows on his knees. Skoodge went beside him and sat down next to him.

"I was on going planet to planet until I came across this planet. I was doing a planet sweep of Earth with my computer on my ship. Then I was hit by one of its satellite in Earth's orbit. My ship burned up from the impact on Earth. I tried to repair my ship by finding supplies around the planet, but it was no use. My ship was completely totaled. I couldn't even contact the Tallest or any of my translation software to speak any language on this planet so I was stuck. I tried disguising myself as a mute until I was able to raise enough money to get what I need to leave this planet. I was prepared to stay here for years. Then I was captured by Yoa and her people and learned to understand English better during the months I was captured. I was burned, fed disgusting food and cold most of the times at night. I thought if I could speak the language it would be better to tell them what I know to escape this treatment. After months of staying with them having humans look at me like a freak, one day I decided to give up and abandoned myself to die. I would rather die then give up my secrets to those awful people. I was going to commit suicide I soon I was at that super convention with the reporters to take my revenge, but then that girl spoke up and saw that I was treated badly. She gave me new hope. So I want to thank her properly and you as well, so thank you for saving me Zim and I am sorry."

Zim after hearing Skoodge story turned and saw that Skoodge was holding a colorful small gem in his hand. It was any color imaginable and it amazed Zim. Skoodge continued on.

"This is the Striking Gem, beautiful beyond the creation of Earth, made on the planet Sarafeena. I discovered it there on my mission and kept it as a souvenir. I want to give it to that girl before I leave, if I do leave if you let me." Zim looked at Skoodge seriously.

"I will accept your request and your apology. But I want to know why give such a precious gem to this girl?" Zim asked Skoodge.

"Because I want her to know the secrets of the universe, she is more worthy." Skoodge said. Zim nodded in agreement.

"Well I will help you leave this planet tonight, but it is too late to give her that gem. I know her but I don't know where she lives. You have to make up for lost time on your mission so you can't waste any more time, so I will give her the gem in your place."

Skoodge looked at the gem for the final time and gave it to Zim. He stuck it in his pants pocket. They both got up and went into the garage. Both Gaz and Dib awaited their arrival.

"We are going to continue preparing the ship. Now, let's see if we can get this ship running 'til morning." Zim said excitedly picking up a wrench. Both Dib and in shock Gaz smiled that everything worked out well and continued on through the night. It was about three in the morning when Gaz tested the ship and it flew smoothly. Then Gaz landed it in the street.

"It's ready to go." Gaz said yawning a bit. Skoodge was pleased by the results and got on the ship. He turned to the humans that helped him and went back down. Then he looked at Zim.

"I want to thank them too and give them something but I don't have anything to give." Skoodge said sadly. Zim put his hand on his shoulder and said.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make it up to them for you." Then he turned to his friends. "Skoodge wants to thank you for all your help but he doesn't have anything to give."

"That's okay," Dib said politely. "I'm glad I helped for this experience of meeting you."

"Yeah," Gaz agreed. "Besides, I was already given my gratitude." Gaz then pulled out her money and petted it. "New Piggy Hedge Hog game, here I come!"

"Yeah, so are you all set to go?" Zim said turning to his companion.

"Yes, but I want you to know, Zim, the Tallest was wrong about you. You're not the screw up, they are for banishing you. "Skoodge said.

"That means a lot. Now get out of here before I destroy the ship. After all, I do destroy anything I touch."

"Okay, Zim." Skoodge chuckled. "Maybe we will met again in the future but if not have a good life, Zim."

"You too," Zim said waving goodbye to Skoodge as he went in the cockpit of the ship. Then the ship hovered and took off straight in the air. They watched it turn into a glistening star.

"What a night!" Dib spoke out in his tried state of mind. "I need to sleep!"

"It's hard to sleep with what happened today." Zim said to Dib. "But I think I can sleep just from plain exhaustion." They all agreed and headed back in the house. Then in the afternoon Prof. Membrane came out of his lab and saw Dib, Zim and even Gaz were crashed out in the living room still sleeping.

"It's 1:50 PM and they are still sleeping. What the hell did I miss?"


	10. Back To Skool For You!

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long! I tried working on the chapter here and there between whatever I had to do and a lot of editing to boot. So enjoy!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 10: Back to Skool for you!

It was two in the afternoon when Prof. Membrane woke the kids up from their slumber. Dib and Gaz got up quickly to their father's command while Zim was sleeping without a care. Dib saw that Zim was not listening to his father's screaming so he decided to kick him hard in his squeedlyspooch. Zim squeaked from the pain and clenched his belly. He slowly got up from the floor.

"It's about time you kids got up!" Prof. Membrane said crossing his arms. "Now, why were you guys sleeping in so late?" Dib looked at Zim trying to find an excuse to give his father, but Zim had no ideas. Then Dib looked at his sister and she had no clue what to say. Dib came up with a story.

"Well, we were getting rid of that space craft for you." Dib said elbowing Zim to agree with him. Zim nodded.

"Yeah, we figured that we could do you a big favor by disposing that junk, after all today is your birthday! " Zim said backing up Dib's lie. Zim was really going to give Prof. Membrane a proper gift, but he totally forgot about it while rescuing Skoodge yesterday.

"Yes, yes today is your birthday, of course!" Dib said acting like he knew all along. Zim knew he also forgot.

"Really," Prof. Membrane thought to himself. He looked at his digital calendar connected to his arm and saw that it was indeed his birthday. "Hey, you're right! Today is my birthday!" Prof. Membrane got excited, ran into the kitchen and straight in the garage. He saw that the craft was completely gone. Prof. Membrane became pleased.

"You kids got rid of it in one night, for me, for my birthday!" Prof. Membrane pronounced happily. "Now I have room for my tools, in my own garage! I can park my car in my own garage! I'm gonna park my car right now, thanks kids!" Prof. Membrane grabbed his keys off the kitchen table and ran out the front door.

"That worked out pretty well." Zim said pleased by his half-truth.

"Yeah, good thinking Zim," Dib said surprised by the outcome. "I really did forget his birthday."

"I know you did, Dib, I know you did." Zim said shaking his head in shame.

"I didn't." Gaz said bringing out her gift from under the couch. It was a rectangular box wrapped in purple paper topped with a light blue bow. She met her Dad in the garage and gave him her present. Prof. Membrane torn off the paper and opened the box to reveal a new pair of black rubber gloves.

"Gaz, how did you know I needed new gloves?" Prof. Membrane asked his daughter. Gaz looked at her father's worn out black gloves with tiny holes around his fingers and said.

"Lucky guess," Prof. Membrane hugged his daughter while she whined through the ordeal. Zim peeked into the garage doorway to see Gaz receiving the hug and chuckled. Gaz heard him and threatened to punch him showing her fist and shaking it. Zim realizing the doom of the fist wiped his smile off his face and backed away from the garage doorway into the kitchen. Then he turned to Dib. Zim yawned.

"Well, time to hit the old dusty trail." Zim said stretching his arms. "See you at skool, Dib." Zim was about to walk out the front door until Dib said.

"Are you going to be okay, Zim?" Zim stopped in his tracks and turned to face Dib.

"That's a stupid question," Zim quickly commented back. "Of course I'm going to be okay. Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know? You seem a little off today." Dib said looking at his friend weirdly.

"Well, you did just kick me in my squeedlyspooch! Of course I am going to be off! It's like falling off the wrong side of the bed, but instead the floor kicks on the way down!"

"That doesn't make any sense." Dib responded to his simile.

"It doesn't have to, Dib! Now if you excuse me, I got to get home before Gir makes anymore poisonous cookies to feed the neighborhood children." Zim slammed the door on the way out. He dug in his pocket to find the Striking Gem. He pulled it out and saw that it was turning blue, green, red, silver and black in that order. He sighed and placed it back in his pocket. He continued to walk home thinking.

'How am I going to give this to Mary?' He thought. 'She can't know I rescued Skoodge or I will have to explain everything and I can't just give her the gem or she'll get suspicious. Maybe I should hold on to it until the right time.' Zim stopped and stood still for a while. 'That's stupid; it will never be the right time.'

* * *

Sunday was over quick for the gang and it was back to school to begin their second semester. This meant they had to go to their homeroom classes to pick up their new schedules. Zim and Dib were in the same homeroom sure enough and met each other in their usual outfits. Zim was wearing his red T-shirt that says "Life sucks, so do you!" with black pants, gloves and shoes while Dib wears his black cloak and so-so face underneath it with his black pants and boots. They sat down and their teacher passed out their new schedules. Dib and Zim classes stayed the same on their schedules except their new punishment class, Calculus, with Mr. Holic for first period. They both sighed.

"At least we have the same class together." Dib said staying on the bright side of the situation. Zim looked at the schedule and sneered. Dib continued to speak to comfort his friend.

"We can help each other out when we do group work."

"Yeah, you're right," Zim said trying to be positive. "It's not going to be that bad. With you and Mary helping me, I can't lose!"

The bell rang and it was time to leave for first period. Zim and Dib walked to Mr. Holic's class in building two, room forty-two. Dib opened the door and saw that their new classmates were already in their seats, quiet. Very quiet that it freaked Zim and Dib out a bit. They walked into the classroom and saw their new teacher, Mr. Holic, sitting in his desk. He was a short, white, medium built man that had brown thinning hair leaving a bald spot on the top of his head. He was wearing a black suit and a bright yellow tie covered with red question marks on it that seemed out of place. They looked at the teacher curiously. The teacher glared at them. Dib decided to be brave.

"Uhm…Excuse me, is this Mr. Holic's class?" Dib asked looking at his schedule. Zim looked at the teacher scared out of his wits. The teacher went up to them, looked them in the eyes and smiled evilly.

"So, you must be the troublemakers that Principle Bitters sent me." Mr. Holic said. Dib and Zim both nodded their head at the same time.

" Oh, ho ho ho," The teacher suddenly laughed. "And here I was thinking you guys were gonna be a threat. Take your seat over there." Mr. Holic pointed to the two empty seats in front of his desk. The two took their seats.

"Well, you might as well save your guys' bickering in the hallways because once you're in my classroom, there will be no fooling around. Got it," Mr. Holic shouted suddenly pounding his hands on each of the boys' desks. This startled them and made them nod their heads. "Yes, Sir, I want to hear 'yes Sir' from you two, now!"

"Yes, Sir," Both Dib and Zim suddenly said at the same time. Mr. Holic was pleased at their obedience and walked to his desk. Mr. Holic faced the chalk board.

"You know Mr. Burnman was my ride to skool and back for a long time until I got a new car. Now that he gone out of mind due to a particular accident, I have to leave my house at 6:15AM to catch the metro in the morning and that makes me very cranky!" Mr. Holic shouted turning to face the two. "But I don't hold it against you two for that would be very unprofessional of me. Now I have three simple rules in my classroom. Rule Number One: Shut the Hell up, Rule Number Two: Raise your hand to be called on, there is no such thing as a stupid question unless I say so, and finally Rule Number Three: Always call me Mr. Holic or Sir when called on or I won't answer it. Now let's begin our lesson." Mr. Holic said writing the equation on the board. The equation looked like this: (Author Note: The X→6 was suppose to be under the limit, but oh well and the 2 next to the X was supposed to be squared too but that's what I get for trying to be creative.)

limX→6 5x2-8x-13

Mr. Holic wrote find the limit as X approaches the constant. Zim lifted up his hand suddenly. "Yes, you, what's your name again?" Mr. Holic said looking at his picture description. "Zim, what is it?"

"Mr. Holic, Sir. What does that mean?"

"What does what mean, Zim?"

"The X with the weird arrow pointing to the six, Sir?"

"Oh my God, that's a stupid question, Zim!" Mr. Holic said surprised on how stupid his student was. Mr. Holic studied Zim and asked.

"Are you slow by any chance?"

"No, Sir, I just don't get it! Now will please tell me what it means." Zim said embarrassed. Everyone stopped working on their problems and stared at Zim and Mr. Holic.

"Oh, fine it means it is equal to X." Mr. Holic said.

"Sir, what is X?" Zim asked Mr. Holic.

"It's six, Zim, six!" Mr. Holic shouted.

"Then what is six equal to Sir, does it equal to that line?"

"My God, that's an even stupider question than you just asked me. Now it is better that you shut up now!"

"Zim, the arrow means…" Dib tried explaining to Zim, but Mr. Holic cut him off.

"You, shut up! He has to figure it out by himself!"

"Well, how am I going to figure it out if nobody's going to tell me?" Zim asked Mr. Holic. Mr. Holic didn't answer.

"What you say, Zim, I didn't hear a Sir in that question."

"Ahhh. Never mind," Zim finally said frustrated and continued to figure out what the arrow means in his equation. There was a knock at the door and a girl came in. Zim looked up and saw it was Mary. She had a stack of papers in her arms.

"Hello Mr. Holic, Mrs. Marchelle wanted me to give these papers to you." She said politely. Mr. Holic went up to her and took the papers happily.

"Why, thank you, Mary!" Mr. Holic said pleased. "I'll let Mrs. Marchelle know they were given to me." Mary looked around to see Zim and Dib working on their problems. She smiled.

"Hey, guys! I didn't know you had Mr. Holic for math too!" Mary said surprised. Zim looked up and said.

"Yeah, we just got him."

Mr. Holic curiously looked at Mary astonished.

"Mary, you know this numbskull!" He said pointing to Zim.

"Hey!" Zim said offended.

"Yes, in fact he is one of my pupils for tutoring."

"Ha," Mr. Holic said. "Good luck with this kid, I can't teach him. He can't even figure out that X pointing to the six is equal to six." Mary saw that Zim was having a hard time with Mr. Holic and decided to help.

"Maybe you need to explain it in a different way." Mary suggested and went to the chalk board. She looked at the board and took the piece of chalk. She then drew an equal sign under the arrow. She then rewrote the equation to include the six replacing the X's with the number.

"Zim," Mary said getting his attention. "X is the 6. They want you to replace to X with the number 6. Then you will be able to find your constant for limit."

"Oh, so the arrow means that the X will be that number." Zim said writing in his notes. "Now I get it." The other kids saw Mary's new written equation and wrote it down too. Mr. Holic looked at Mary amazed.

"I think Zim's more of a visual learner, I teach a lot of kids like that."

"Well, thanks for your help Mary, but I am the teacher. I could have easily figured that out for myself." Mr. Holic said proudly. Zim wanted to choke him.

"Oh. Alright then, I'm going to be leaving. See you guys at lunch." Mary said waving goodbye. Zim and Dib both waved back. Mary left the classroom and they went back to their work. Then, the bell rang and it was time for gym. After an hour of doing push up drills, it was time for those two to separate. Zim went to his English III while Dib went to U.S. History. Then it was lunch time. Zim entered the hallway heading to his locker until he noticed Mary getting books out of her locker. He went up to her locker and slammed his right hand on the locker in front of her. This startled her. She saw that it was Zim. Zim leaned his back on the locker that he just slammed.

"Yo. Thanks for saving my ass in Calculus. I swear I think he was getting ready to kill me until you came in. What a jerk! I can't believe he treated you that way after you helped him out."

"Well, he's always like that. I don't think he wants anyone's help when it comes to teaching. He thinks he's the best. In fact, he tells us he's the best in our A.P. Calculus."

"Figures, I barely know the man and I already expect that from him." Then Torque Smacky and his two best friends walked into the hallways. They were wearing their basketball uniforms for tonight's game. They saw that Zim was talking to Mary.

"Hey, Zim," Torque said getting his attention. "Like the shirt. Does that mean you suck balls too?" Torque's friends laughed at their leader's comment and Zim waited patiently until they stopped laughing.

"No, I just suck your mom's balls." Zim said calmly. Mary was shocked by what Zim said. So were Torque's friends. Then Torque got pissed off and picked up Zim from his shirt getting ready to punch.

"Yes, yes punch me and get kicked off team. That's really smart." Zim said reasoning with the jock.

"Don't do it man." One of his buddies's said. "He's not worth ruining the season." Then Torque let go of Zim. Zim fixed his shirt. They walked away.

"Man that was ugly." Zim said brushing his shirt off.

"You're going to get yourself killed." Mary said.

"Nah, they can't touch me. They get into any fights they automatically get kicked off the team. This happened to me couple of times when they started it, I got beaten up, they get beaten up and they get kicked off team either way. It's pretty funny. Heh, heh."

"I fail to see the humor of you getting beaten up." Mary said concerned for his well being. Zim looked at her seriously and then smiled a bit.

"Oh, cheer up!" Zim said smiling. "I never seriously get myself hurt. Besides, if someone offers me a challenge, I'm not going to turn them down!" Mary didn't say anything. She just rolled her eyes at Zim's logic and walked away. Zim chuckled at her reaction and followed her. They were walking to the lunch room until they saw Jessica and her group of friends stop and stare at Mary and Zim. The girls just laughed and walked away.

"Hey, girls do you see a cow crossing anywhere because I think I just saw Mary passing by. I think they really need to put a sign up." Jessica said as they kept on walking. They were still laughing.

"Bitch," Zim muttered to himself. Then he looked at Mary. Mary kept on walking not even stunned by what the girls said. This confused Zim.

"Why didn't you defend yourself? Jeez Mary, you could have at least given them the finger!"

"Why bother, if they want to feel better about themselves by making fun of me, so let them. After all, what matters is what I think of me. They don't know me, so their opinions don't count."

Zim was in awe in what Mary said. Then the intercom came on. "Zim come to the main office, Zim!"

"What did I do now? You insult a guy's mother and they call you in, this sucks. See you Mary."

* * *

Zim entered the main office and saw a bunch of other kids sitting in the chairs waiting their punishments. Zim assumed he was in trouble and sat himself down.

'I don't know why they had to call me during lunch. History would have been way better so I wouldn't have to listen to that teacher blah,blah about the cotton gin and shit and how blah,blah, south needed forced labor slaves for tobacco…' Zim thought making his right hand speak describing his teacher. The skool secretary saw that Zim wasn't paying any attention to her and screamed.

"ZIM!" This made Zim jump out of his seat. "Your guidance counselor wants a word with you."

"Aw, crap." Zim said out loud and walked to Mr. Ordinary's office. He opened the door and saw Mr. Ordinary sitting down with his usual plain outfit. He had a plain white buttoned up dress shirt on and a blue tie. He was medium built and had straight brown cut hair up to his ears. He was shuffling through some papers in Zim's file and shook his head. Then he saw Zim.

"Ah, Zim come in and take a seat next to your legal guardian." Zim was shocked by what Mr. Ordinary said and assumed the worse. Prof. Membrane got involved.

"I am very disappointed of you, fake-son!" Prof. Membrane said shaking his head.

"Oh fu-"Zim was about to say but Prof. Membrane cut him off.

"Watch your mouth, what would your mother say hearing you talk like that?"

Zim thought of what the crazy Robo Mom would have said. "Well. I don't know. Sleep in the gravy until you feel better." Zim laughed but the adults scolded him for his crude joke. Zim went silent and sat down in the chair next to Prof. Membrane.

"Well, I called you in today to tell you that you completely failed Science Technology. There would be no way you would make up the class next year because we are not going to have it. You're not going to have enough credits to graduate with the rest of your class." Mr. Ordinary said. Zim and Prof. Membrane were shocked by the news.

"What? You got to be kidding me! Is there any other way I can make this up." Zim tried reasoning to the Mr. Ordinary.

"Of course, Zim. What? You think we were going to let you fail." Mr. Ordinary said smirking at Zim's reaction to the fake news.

"What? Why did you tell me I was not going to graduate on time?" Zim snapped out of anger.

"To make you think seriously about your studies. Now just imagine if the news was real. You wouldn't be mad at me right now, you would be mad at yourself."

"If you would have told me the truth from the beginning I wouldn't be mad at all." Zim rebutted back at Mr. Ordinary.

"Touché, Zim. You're the only one that caught on to my scheme."

"Would you please tell me what this is really about?" Prof. Membrane said annoyed. "I already paid for the damages of the classroom. I been here for three hours and there is so much work I don't want to miss."

"Yes, yes. Well, we found a way to make this work. Since, Principle Bitters thought that you're punishment was cruel to have you sent to a Calculus Class in the middle of the year without any prior knowledge of the coarse, she is willingly to have you pass the Science Technology class if you pass the Third Quarter Calculus Test with at least a 91%."

"What? Principle Bitters knows about mercy? Why is she doing this for me?" Zim asked his counselor.

"She said that technically you were supposed to get a C on the project since you made the cannon but missed the board. She saw that the F was uncalled for, but because your grade was so bad in that class, she thought this would be more suitable than having you stay for summer skool causing whatever trouble."

"Yeah, I am a troublemaker." Zim said pleased by his statement. "What happens if I don't pass the Test?"

"Most likely summer skool for the whole summer." Mr. Ordinary spoke.

"Damn. Okay I'll pass that Test! No worries, I, Zim will rise up to your challenge!" Zim screamed standing on his chair.

"Zim, get off my chair and get out of my office."

"Yes, Sir," Zim said walking out of the classroom with Prof. Membrane. They both walked into the hallway.

"Sorry for having you come in." Zim said finally to Prof. Membrane.

"It's Okay, Zim. I agreed to this responsibility when I signed to be your guardian. I just wish you were better behaved."

Zim felt bad about what Prof. Membrane said and continued.

"Look, Membrane. How much was the classroom, I'll pay you back for the damages myself."

"No Zim, you can't buy yourself to make things better, it is time to owe up to your decisions and make the right choices in life. You're going to be an adult soon and you have to know the difference between the good and bad consequences of your actions."

"I'm not going to be an adult soon. I'm only technically seventeen."

"Yes, but in this world. When you're eighteen, you are technically an adult, so if you punch someone, they will sue."

"Yes, and if they try, I will sue them back." Zim said trying to lighten the mood. Prof. Membrane shook his head.

"Zim, don't worry about the damages but please keep in mind what I told you." Prof. Membrane said leaving Zim behind to think to himself. Zim didn't like what he heard and went to the cafeteria to meet up with his friends for cheering up.


	11. LunchTime Debate!

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 11: Lunch-Time Debate!

Zim walked into the cafeteria with his books and lunch in his backpack. He was usually ready for some relaxation from the lunch period, but he became sidetracked by what Prof. Membrane said.

"Need to know the good and bad consequences of my decisions, ha!" Zim said out loud to himself. "Really, like I need to take his advice! I already make pretty good decisions myself!" Zim bumped into a random kid in his way. The kid was annoyed by the knock between elbows.

"Hey watch where you are going!" The kid screamed at Zim. Zim stopped, turned around and gave the kid a dirty look.

"Watch where you're going or I'll kill your grandma!" Zim shrieked his threat. The kid looked horrified.

"Not my Nana!" Then the kid ran off.

"Wah ha ha ha!" Zim laughed. "That will teach him to mess with Zim! Where are my friends sitting?" Zim looked in the cafeteria and saw a bunch of kids he recognized and hated. He saw everyone he knew and tolerated at the middle of the cafeteria. There in the middle he found his friends already eating their lunch. There was Tina, Josh, Gretchen and Dib sitting together on one side of the table while Brian and Mary were sitting on the other side. He saw that Josh and Brian were debating on something while the others ate. Zim, curious of what they were talking about, approached the table.

"I'm saying that if you eat a rotten banana you wouldn't have to deal with maggots that much because the skin of the banana protects the fruit!" Josh argued to Brian.

"Well, if you eat the rotten apple, it would taste like apple sauce and it would be easier to swallow!" Brain rebutted.

"No, the banana would be easier to swallow plus it would have a better taste. It would taste like banana bread because banana bread is basically made with rotting bananas!" Josh responded back. Zim looked at them curiously.

"Hey, what are you guys arguing about?" Zim asked. Josh and Brian noticed Zim and looked at him smiling. Zim became frightened by their smiling faces.

"Zim," Josh said. "Would you rather eat a rotten apple or a rotten banana?"

"Ummm…Neither." Zim said confused. "I don't see why you guys would eat rotten fruit."

"It's a hypothetical question game we are playing." Brian explained. "We ask each other ridiculous situational questions just to see what we would do if we had to do it for some weird reason. It's interesting how we respond, but usually some people will try to persuade others to agree with their answer, right Josh."

"Hey," Josh responded to Brian's comment. "It makes the game more exciting, so what will it be, Zim, banana or apple?

"How long were both been sitting out?" Zim asked them.

"Three weeks on the kitchen table." Josh said answering Zim's question.

"I would eat the apple; it would be less rotten than the banana." Zim stated sitting down next to Brian. Brian smiled at Zim's answer. Josh said nothing to Zim's reasoning.

"Well, you got me there." Josh finally agreed. "The banana is far more biodegradable. The apple would be a far better choice."

"Yeah," Dib finally spoke. "The apple was the better choice but I didn't want to say anything. You two arguing was entertaining." Both Brain and Josh looked irritated at Dib and turned away to eat their lunch. Then Dib looked at Zim who had a worried expression on his face. Dib became curious.

"Zim what's with the long face?" Dib asked him. "Did you get lost on the way to the cafeteria again because it took you a long time to get here?"

"No I didn't, Dib!" Zim said annoyed.

"He probably did," Dib said looking at Gretchen. "He's just too embarrassed to admit it!" Gretchen giggled at Dib comment. Zim became angry by their giggling because it was true. He did get lost on the way there but he wouldn't tell them that.

"Yeah, Zim, you were gone for half of the lunch break. What happen?" Josh asked interested hoping to add more info to his website.

"Well, I got called into the counselor's office. Apparently, Dib and I were not suppose to get an F on the project because we made the cannon but missed the board. Good news for your report card, Dib!"

"Yes!" Dib shouted in glee. "And I barely even tried to make it better. Thank you, Zim!"

"Yeah, yeah," Zim said annoyed and continued on. "But because my grade was so bad in there, they are giving me a second chance so I don't have to fail the course. If I get a least a 91% on Mr. Holic's Third Quarter Exam, I would pass Science Technology and gain my credits." Tina screeched at what Zim said while the others were looking at him like he was asking for a death sentence.

"Oh, Zim," Tina screeched some more. "Why would you agree to that? You poor doomed teen, struck down by your innocence."

"Okay, now I'm scared. What doom did I agree to?" Zim asked his friends.

"Oh, God," Josh said. "It's really bad! Almost no one was able to get at least a 91% on that test, except for Mary." They all suddenly looked at her. Mary, not really paying much attention to their conversations noticed them staring at her.

"What?" Mary asked while eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then she swallowed a piece.

"How were you able to get an A on that test, Mary" Josh questioned her. "Did you have to sell your soul to the devil to get that kind of score?"

"Umm, no, it's not a big deal or anything. If you know the math you should be fine." Mary took another bite out of her sandwich.

"Yeah, says the math genius." Josh said then looked at Zim. "Zim, you must cram! Cram your head as full as you can because no other student alive is ever prepared for that test!" Zim, realizing the doom of what he agreed to, face plant his head on the lunch table.

"Josh! That was amazing," Tina said smiling. "I never seen that side of you before, it's really sexy!"

"Oh you think so," Josh said wrapping his arm around Tina's waist. Tina snuggled up to him and they kissed each other. Dib saw those two kissing then looked at Gretchen.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Dib said to Gretchen wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Every time," Gretchen said and kissed Dib on the cheek. When Zim finally lifted his head, he saw both of the couples making out.

"Okay…I'm gonna put my head back down, now." Zim banged his head down on the table while Brian was reading his airplane guide book. Mary looked the other way while eating her sandwich. After Gretchen and Dib were done sucking face, Dib saw that Zim's head was still on the table.

"So did my Dad have to get involved?" Dib asked Zim. Zim lifted his head to answer his question.

"Yep, he even gave me the whole 'pay for my consequences' speech again, even though he should have given it to you. You started this whole mess in the first place with your laziness!" Zim shrieked at Dib. Dib became not so interested in this argument again.

"Let the past lay in peace and worry about what's going on the present, Zim. Besides, he probably meant your failing scores and your fighting."

"Well," Zim said thinking to himself. "It was still a very crappy thing to say when you are already worried about everything else."

"Wait!" Josh said stopping them from continuing their conversation. "Dib, why does your Dad have to go to Zim's meeting with the counselor in the first place?" Zim and Dib hoping no one would catch on to what they were saying to each other, looked at Josh and sighed. They had no choice but to tell the truth.

"So do you want to say it or should I?" Zim said looking at Dib.

"No I'll explain it." Dib said and Zim was relieved for a bit.

"Well, you see," Dib said uncomfortable about the situation scratching the back of his head. The group became focused on what Dib was trying to say. "When Zim's parents died in that Farris wheel accident, my Dad agreed to look after Zim. So he signed some papers and Zim became part of my family."

"So you guys are…" Tina said smiling by the news.

"Yep," Zim said.

"Technical brothers." Both Dib and Zim said at the same time. Everyone laughed by what they heard.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Tina shrieked in joy. "You guys are actually brothers!"

"Yes, but technically." Zim defended that fact. "We are not blood related at all."

"But still, brothers!" Tina said still laughing.

"Yes technically, what part of that don't you understand?" Zim said starting to get annoyed by Tina's giggling.

"Well, it just so unexpected!" Tina said.

"Not really," Mary said finally. "The way those two fought with each other at the party, they acted just like siblings. It makes sense now looking back at it."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have figured it out without this news prior." Tina challenged Mary. Mary, realizing what Tina was saying was true, gone back to eating her snack.

"So you guys are actually brothers," Brian said stopping himself from smirking. "And here I was thinking you guys were really good friends, but brothers. Now that's interesting."

"Hold up, hold up," Josh said still cracked up by the news."I gotta I gotta write this down!" Josh reached for his PDA. Zim saw what Josh was doing and snatched the PDA out of his hand.

"Hey!" Josh said trying to grab the PDA back.

"No! We don't want anyone else knowing about this!" Zim said holding the PDA away from him. "If people knew, we would be the butt of every joke in this skool! I can see the whole class now singing songs about us! They would be like which one is the little brother and such."

"Yeah, our social lives would be ruined!" Dib screeched. Gretchen looked annoyed. "How come this is the first I heard of this? I didn't know he was your brother."

"Technical adopted brother, Gretchen!" Dib corrected her. "There is a difference, you know." Gretchen still looked annoyed at Dib. Dib knew he screwed up somehow.

"But your guys' social lives aren't that great to begin with, either way, it would be a boost!" Josh tried to reason to Zim holding his PDA hostage.

"Besides, it would explain everything." Josh stated.

"Everything? What do you mean by everything?" Zim said. Zim and Dib looked at Josh curiously.

"The way you guys fight all the time really annoys everyone. If they know you guys are brother, you guys will seem less annoying."

"So, I don't care! Let them be annoyed by us!" Zim said proudly.

"Yeah," Dib said proudly too. "They made fun of us for years we can at least be annoying."

"Yeah," Zim agreed and high-fived Dib. Josh just shook his head.

"Okay, could I please have my PDA back?" Josh asked.

"If you only promise not to add this to your Gossip Bug!" Zim snapped.

"Okay, I promise." Josh agreed.

"Cross your heart and hoped to die." Dib added in.

"Stick a needle in your eye!" Zim threatened Josh pulling out a sewing needle out of his backpack pocket.

"That's just an expression, Zim." Josh said frightened looking at the needle.

"Not the way I mean it." Zim said seriously testing the sharpness of the needle on his finger.

"Alright, alright I won't tell a living soul." Josh agreed finally. "Zim, why do you have the needle anyways?"

"I don't know something from last year I guess. Well, here's your PDA back." Zim said handing Josh his PDA.

"Thank you, much!" Josh said happily taking back his PDA. The table went quiet again. Then out of curiosity since he couldn't write about that particular story, Josh decided to ask about something that didn't seem that interesting to him or anyone else at the table.

"So, Mary," Josh said getting her attention. "How was the convention?"

"Yeah, how was it? Was it really boring?" Tina asked Mary who was finished her lunch.

"Actually, on the contrary, it wasn't." Mary said excited-like.

"How so?" Tina asked curious by her comment.

"Well, you guys are going to have a hard time believing this." Mary said. Zim and Dib became really focus on what she was going to say, while the others were half interested.

"What is it; your mom actually caught an alien!" Tina joked.

"Yeah, she did, but luckily the alien escaped." Josh and Tina stared at each other and then laughed their heads off. Even Brian stopped reading his book and laughed at what she just said. Mary became annoyed by their reactions.

"What did you say?" Tina said still laughing a bit.

"You heard me; she caught an alien and placed the poor thing in a cage. When I had a look at it, it looked like it was treated badly so I tried to help it escape, but I couldn't. Somebody actually freed it so it's safe now I bet. I hope. I'm still a little worried about the fellow."

"Sweetie," Tina said putting her hand on Mary's forehead. "Are you feeling okay? Did you bump your head or something?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm telling you all the truth. It was a real alien!" Mary said seriously while Josh, Tina, Brian and Gretchen were laughing at the girl. Zim and Dib both looked at the case of déjà vu.

"Brings back memories doesn't it?" Zim whispered to Dib.

"Yeah," Dib sighed while Mary tried convincing her friends.

"Wait, back up." Josh said amused by this. "How do you know it was an alien in the first place?"

"It really was!" Mary pleaded. "Zim and I both saw it!"

"Oh, yeah," Zim said trying to act surprised as he could to back up Mary's statement. "It was a real alien."

"Well, what did it look like?" Josh asked Zim wanting to know his opinion on all this.

"It had…green skin and big round eyes and oh I don't really remember. I was there for a short time, but I was shocked utterly shock by what I saw, a real alien."

"Yeah," Mary continued where Zim left off. "It had black antennas on its head and big red bugged eyes. It was really short, round, and it had a red shirt and black pants on."

"Oh I see…" Josh said. "Mary, that was not an alien, it was probably a big bug that your mother dressed up." Brian, Gretchen and Tina nodded agreeing to Josh while Zim was shocked yet offended by what he said.

"I'm serious guys, it had the same proportional body of a child and it was very intelligent. She kept on saying it was a male but it could have been female." Mary defended back. Zim smirked at the idea of Skoodge being seen as a girl. They turned and looked at Zim.

"Oh, never mind me, continue on." Zim said amused by their arguing. Zim took his lunch out and saw it was really cold waffles that he didn't finish this morning that Gir stuffed in his lunch bag. He saw a juice box in his lunch and decided to have that instead. He poked the straw through his box and sipped it while he watches Josh and Mary argue.

"He was not a bug, Josh. He even tried to communicate with me!" Mary said.

"How did it communicate?" Josh asked.

"It understood English really well, but he could not speak it, so when I asked him a question, he would nod yes or no."

"That's just rich!" Josh said laughing his head off. "The thing knew about English but could not speak it. You know how ridiculous that sounds, Mary. Okay let's assume it was an intelligent life form from another planet, if it understood English well; why didn't it try to speak it?"

"Maybe he couldn't because he has a different tongue than a human tongue." Mary pointed out. Zim was surprised on how right she was. Without the programs given to him as an invader it would have been impossible for him to speak any language on this planet due to the tongue difference alone. He was impressed she was able to figure that out. Josh just looked at her with disbelief.

"Well, this whole thing is crazy! For my own sanity I'm not going to believe any of this and I would do the same if I were you Mary. People are going to think you're insane if you keep making up stories like this." Josh said.

"But I'm not making it up." Mary said.

"Well, who cares if you are or not, look we weren't there, maybe you guys were right. Maybe it was a real alien but you have to quit talking like this or you'll end up in the crazy house. The last thing you want is for people to think you're insane." Josh said while the Tina, Brian and Gretchen both nodded their heads concerned for her own sake. Zim and Dib knew Josh was right.

"Okay, I won't mention something like this again to anyone else, but I will still believe I saw an alien that night."

"Fine, whatever," Josh said shaking his head while the others sighed. The bell rang and lunch was over. Brian, Tina and Josh went out of the cafeteria except for Mary that stopped Zim from leaving by poking him on the shoulder. Zim turned around and saw she was still distressed by what happened.

"You believe that it was an alien we saw do you?" Mary asked Zim. Zim looked at her and said.

"Yes, I believe it was. They would have believed it too if they came. "

Mary smiled a bit and continued on.

"That's good; at least I have one person that doesn't think I'm crazy, but never mind that now. I was wondering are you going to need my help for tutoring tonight. If you are, I could go to your house later and help you."

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna need a lot of help the way Josh described that test. So you can come over tonight. I'll be home around seven. You can come early if you want. Gir or Minimoose will let you in. They really like company so it is no bother." Zim said nonchalantly as he could.

"Alright then, I'll see you later!" Mary said waving goodbye as she left the cafeteria. Dib saw the whole conversation and elbowed Zim.

"Really smooth Zim." Dib kept elbowing. Zim looked at him funny.

"What are you talking about?" Zim asked Dib. Dib looked at him and smiled.

"Don't deny it. I see the way you look at her. You like her." Dib accused him.

"Yeah I like her, but I don't see what this has to do with studying." Zim said confused.

"No Zim, what I mean that you really, really like her."

"Yeah, and why wouldn't anyone else. She's a really nice person." Zim said. Dib became annoyed.

"No Zim, what I mean is that you are attracted to her." Dib said annoyed. Zim finally realized what he meant.

"OOOhhhh, umm…no." Zim said. "We are just studying, Dib keep your big head out of the gutter. You're going to get stuck." Zim walked away laughing at his joke while Dib was annoyed.

"My head's not big!" Dib screamed back.

"I don't know why you should be interested in other people's love life, Dib but maybe we should focus on why in fact that you didn't tell me Zim was your brother." Dib turned around and saw that Gretchen was still not pleased from his excuse. Dib walked along with Gretchen to class and try to make things right.


	12. Focus Zim!

Author's Note: WARNING: This is epic!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 12: Focus Zim!

Zim was getting off his shift from Mart-Wall. It was six o'clock at night and he knew he had to get home to meet Mary to help him with calculus, but he wanted to bug his buddy that worked in one of the shops in his store. Steve, the kid that worked at the Sandwich Thing; He saw that today was indeed his shift too. He was up front cleaning the bain where all the vegetables were displayed to put on the sandwiches for the customers. He was a lightly tan blond fellow that was wearing a yellow Sandwich Thing logo on it; he was pretty thin and tall for his age. Zim saw that he was cleaning the lids off the vegetable and meat containers and decided it bug him. Zim went into the shop and walked up to the bain.

"So you are working today, huh Steve?" Zim asked him. Steve looked up and became annoyed by who was here.

"Yeah, Zim I work until seven, it was pretty busy today so I won't be leaving early."

"And where is your supervisor?" Zim asked looking around.

"Smoking outside, what's up?"

"Give me a free sandwich!" Zim said with his hands out begging.

"No, Zim I can't. I'll get in trouble!" Steve said annoyed.

"Why not, you guys get free sandwiches all the time. Why not Zim? "

"They are not free, Zim, we have to pay for our sandwiches!"

"That sucks, don't you guys get like a discount or something?"

"Yeah, we do and we give them to our families only."

"I can be part of your family."

"We look nothing alike."

"I can be like a cousin or something."

"No, we don't give discounts to aunts, uncles or cousins."

"But they are part of family."

"Only the family you are in can get the discount, Zim."

"Well, that's not fair." Zim said while eating a bag of chips from the display rack.

"Not to your other family members yes…" Steve stopped and notice Zim was eating the bag of chips.

"Zim! You're going to pay for that right?" Steve said pointing to the bag of chips.

"Why?" Zim said still eating out of the bag.

"Zim, you have to! It's not free!" Steve said getting angry. "You can't just help yourself to chips."

"But you guys leave them out here like it's free game, it's misleading."

"Zim, people know to buy the chips and the only thing that is misleading is your ignorance, now pay for the God damn chips!" Steve screamed. Zim saw that his supervisor was coming back from his smoke break and decided to give in.

"I can be your step-brother."

"No, Zim. Obey! Money now! " Steve said holding out his hand.

"Okay, okay you win. How much do I owe ya?"

"A dollar seventy-six."

"What? That's just robbery. I could have gotten a bag like this for ninety-nine cents at my work." Zim said digging in his pocket for two dollar bills.

"Well, you should have gotten the bag of chips from your store than ate mine."

"Here you go, two dollar bills, keep the rest, Steve. I'll see ya later." Zim said giving him the bills and left the store. Steve's supervisor went up to Steve and looked at him strangely.

"What was his problem?"

"Oh, nothing, he just wanted a bag of chips, that's all."

* * *

Zim caught his bus home and got off at his neighborhood. Zim was still eating the bag of chips from Steve's shop and they were very tasty.

"No wonder they were a dollar and seventy-six cents." He said after eating the last chip in the bag. He reached his front porch and saw Gir running out of the house. He had a bag of something in his hand and started eating it in the front yard. Zim went around the robot to meet Mary at the front door.

"I gave him a piece of candy just to be nice. Then he took the whole bag away from me. I didn't know robots liked sugar that much."Mary said surprised how much Gir liked the candy.

"Gir!" Zim shrieked. "What is wrong with you? You weren't supposed to take the whole bag. Now give it back!"

"No!" Gir screamed as Zim struggled with the robot. Gir was out of his disguise and would have easily caught people's attention. Zim had to think of something quick to get him back in the house. Then he remembered the bag.

"Look what Zim got, Gir." Zim said waving the empty bag of chips in front of Gir. Gir was interested by what Zim had in his hand and followed him into the house. Gir left the bag of candy on the ground and Mary picked it up and followed them. She closed the door behind her and Zim gave Gir the empty bag of chips. Gir was pleased and started licking the inside of the bag and ate it. Mary was surprised that Gir ate the bag. Then the robot started napping on the floor. Minimoose came in and squeaked at his master. Zim saw the robot and petted it.

"So how was your day, Minimoose? Did you have any fun?" Zim said stroking its head.

"Nyaa!" Minimoose said pleased.

"Good. We'll be upstairs." Zim said walking up the stairs and Mary followed grabbing her backpack. They turned to the first door on the right and entered Zim's room. It had a pretty simple design. The walls were yellow while the carpet was red brown. He had a messy bed with papers and other junk on it and he had table full of other nik naks and gadgets that seems to be not finished or being worked on. He had them everywhere in his room on the floor, on his dresser and in his closet. Zim was a little embarrassed by the mess.

"Sorry, I usually have a hard time going to sleep, so I make things before I go to bed. Sometimes I finish them but mostly, they are stupid ideas and I don't finish them at all and lately, I been having some really stupid ideas." Zim said taking his stupid gadgets of the table and threw them on the floor next to his bed.

"Well," Mary said. "The first thing we need to do is make you a study area. Some place where you can do your homework at."

"What?" Zim said looking at the table he just cleaned off. "This is just fine! I don't see why I need a study area. I can easily study on my bed."

"Yes, but you lose a lot of paper under your bed. You might be missing a lot of assignments due to that alone."

"Nonsense, Mary-Cow," Zim said walking to his bed. "It is perfectly fine on my bed. It's not like I'm…" Zim stopped half-way through his sentence and pulled out last week's homework in U.S. History that he forgot to turn in. "So that's where it went. Okay, you win! So what do you suggest?" Mary looked around the room and saw that Zim had a desk in his closet.

"How come you don't use that desk?" Mary asked.

"Because I don't use my closet." Zim stated.

"I see." Mary said looking at the Zim's clothes scattered on the floor. "And let me guess, you don't use your dresser either." Mary added on.

"That's where Gir sleeps." Zim said looking at Mary. She was shocked on how unorganized Zim really was.

"Well, you're going to need the desk now." Mary said. Zim rolled his eyes to her statement.

"Okay. Help me get it out of the closet." Zim said. Zim and Mary placed his gadgets next to his dresser out of the way to carry the desk. Mary and Zim picked up the table and chair and moved it into the hallway. Then they maneuvered the desk out of the closet and placed it where the table was. They grabbed the chair out of the hallway and Zim sat down in it.

"Cool. Now what?"

"We should probably go through the desk and organize it, just in case there isn't anything in the drawers that's not suppose be there." Mary said opening one of the drawers.

"Like there is anything in here, I didn't use this thing at all."

"Oh really, now." Mary said annoyed by what she found. It was a magazine with a lady posing in her underwear on the cover.

"What?" Zim said surprised by what she found and took the magazine out of her hand.

"Look, Zim. If you want to look at it, can you please look at it when I am gone?" Mary said walking away embarrassed.

"Huh, I never saw this magazine before in my life. What is it some sort of weird magazine?" Mary looked at Zim suspiciously.

"Zim, this isn't studying." Mary said annoyed.

"Is it supposed to be a magazine for underwear shopping?" Zim said flipping through the pages. Then he saw a bare naked lady in one of the pages. Zim shocked by what he saw dropped the magazine on the floor.

"What the hell is that?" Zim said embarrassed rubbing his eyes trying to forget the image. "These women agree to get naked to have perverts stare at them. Disgusting!"

"You mean they're not yours." Mary asked.

"What do you mean by 'they're'?" Zim asked.

"They're more in the drawer, Zim." Mary said pointing to the open drawer. Zim saw the magazines and was shock by how many were in there. Then he got really mad.

"Gir!" Zim shouted. "Gir, Gir! Get your metal butt up here this instant!"

Gir woke up to Zim's screaming and met his master in Zim's room.

"Hi, there!" Gir smiled and waved.

"Don't smile at me! What is the meaning of this?" Zim said showing Gir the magazine that he dropped on the floor.

"Oh, yeah, those are Dib's."

"What?"

"Dib came by three weeks ago to drop them off. He said he wanted me to hide them for him. If I keep them safe, he's gonna give me a cupcake!"

"ARRGGhhh." Zim greeted his teeth in annoyance. Then he picked up his phone on his bed and started to dial Dib's number. Dib picked up the phone.

"Hello, Membrane residence." Dib said promptly.

"Dib, how can you hide your digesting magazines in my house? These women are naked Dib, naked, and you think I would want to stare at them!" Dib knew what he was talking about and was surprised by how Zim responded to his porn.

"What are you, gay?" Dib joked.

"No, I'm not! Now get your magazines out of here!"

"Why should I, I don't want them. You can keep them. I don't need them anymore. Maybe you can use them, Zim, out of curiosity of the female body and all."

"I don't need a magazine to know something like that, now Dib these are yours, get them out of my house."

"Nope, they're yours now, enjoy." Dib said and hung up the phone. Zim slammed the phone on his bed with anger, and then he took the drawer out of his dresser. He looked at Mary.

"I'll be right back." Zim said and took off with the magazines. Gir jumped into Mary's arms scared by what his master looked like and screamed. Mary tried to comfort the poor robot by petting his metal head.

"It's okay, Gir, why don't I make you a snack." Mary suggested.

"Will it have marshmallows in it?" Gir asked looking up at Mary.

"I'll see what I can do." Mary walked out of Zim's room and into the hallway. Then she went downstairs into the kitchen. She placed the robot down and looked into the refrigerator. She noticed a six-pack of beer on the top of the rack and sighed.

'It's really not any of my business what he drinks, but if he offers me some I gonna take one damn it.' Mary thought.

Then she looked around the cupboards for the marshmallows Gir was talking about. She didn't find any.

"Gir, where are the marshmallows?" Mary asked him.

"I don't know." Gir said as he started running in the house with Minimoose flying around the living room.

"This is crazy. No wonders he needs beer." Mary said. Then there was a frantic knock on the door. Mary heard the knock and answered the door. It was Dib.

"Where is he?" Dib quickly asked.

"I don't know, I thought he was with you returning the magazines." Mary said. Then she stopped talking and smelled something funny.

"Hey, does that smell like smoke to you?" Dib asked.

"Yeah, it does." Mary agreed then they followed the smell into the kitchen but nothing was burning.

"I think it is coming from Zim's backyard." Mary said. Dib suddenly opened the door and saw that Zim was burning his magazines on a top of last falls' leaf pile. Zim turned around and saw Dib's jaw open.

"Ah ha ha ha ha! Take that Dib-monster!" Zim said pointing to Dib. "You thought you could beat me by having me keep them for you but now that they are mine, I want them destroyed!"

"Zim, those were fifty dollars worth of magazines! Fifty dollars and you are burning them. You nasty alien monster! " Dib screamed. Dib charged at Zim and tried to punch him in the face. Zim moved away and Dib was going to fall into the bonfire. Zim saw he was going to fall and quickly grabbed Dib by the back of his neck and pulled him away from the fire. Dib was shocked by how close he was to third degree burns. Zim let go of him and Dib dropped to his knees in front of the bonfire. He turned and looked up at Zim. Zim stared down at him with his hands on his hips.

"So, you were willing to get burned by these magazines just to punch me for your own mistake. That's really mature and your Dad told me that I was the one who was making the bad decisions I think not." Zim said. Dib looked back down while Zim walked away and picked up a bucket of water. Gir went out into the yard with the bag of marshmallows he just found and went up to the fire. He started roasting the marshmallows. Zim put out part of the fire leaving a little bonfire for Gir to cook his marshmallows and went up to Mary who was standing in front of the door.

"Let's go inside. I still need to work on homework."

"Shouldn't we stay to watch the fire?"

"No, I think we already have someone doing that." Zim said turning to Dib watching the rest of his porn burn away. They shrugged their shoulders and went up stairs to look at his homework.

"Why did Dib call you an alien?" Mary asked Zim. Zim stopped for a moment and turned around.

"Oh, I don't know, lack of better name calling. Ha ha yeah, let's get back to studying shall we?" Zim said walking into his room. He sat down at the desk and brought out his calculus book. Zim looked at the equations and couldn't figure out what the symbols were for.

"Do you have an IT calculator version 103; you are going to need it for this class." Mary said to Zim.

"No I don't." Zim said to Mary. Mary dug through her backpack and found the calculator.

"Here you can borrow mine; I have a bunch of them at my house from my Dad's work." Mary said placing the calculator in his hand.

"Thanks, you really know your stuff, huh?" Zim asked.

"Yeah, I took this class last year so I do still have notes from it. I can give them to you tomorrow so you can catch up." Mary suggested.

"I would like that a lot! Thanks!" Zim smiled. Mary smiled back and they focused on Zim's Calculus homework. Then there was a knock on the door. It was Dib. He looked a little down.

"Hey, sorry for you know, Zim," Dib said.

"You know what Dib?" Zim said waiting for Dib's response.

"For leaving the magazines for Gir to hide in your house. I should have gotten rid of them properly. I didn't want Gretchen to know so I thought I could hide them for awhile, but now I realized I didn't really need them now, but still, that was fifty dollars worth of porn. Drat!"

"Well, at least they are gone now. Pay for your services." Zim said holding out his hand. Dib looked at him confused.

"For what?" Dib asked.

"The cupcake that you promised Gir." Zim said.

"But he didn't hide them well enough that you still found them."

"Oh, yes he did. I wouldn't have found them if we didn't need to use my desk, now pay up!"

"I don't have one with me." Dib said.

"Well, you better next time you come or Gir will be really angry. And we all know how Gir is like when he is really angry."

"Ok. Fine next time. See you, Zim and by the way the fire is out." Dib said leaving out of the room. Dib bumped into Gir in the hallway.

"Cupcake!" Gir squeaked holding out his hands.

"Not today, sorry." Dib told Gir. Gir became sad that he didn't get a cupcake. Then he became very angry.

"No cupcake, arrrrrrrrrrghthththggg!" Gir screamed turning red. Then he shot a sandwich at him causing Dib to fall down the stairs. Zim and Mary heard Dib screaming from the impact of the sandwich and saw he fell down the stairs. Then Zim looked at Gir.

"Gir, what have you done, that was my lunch you threw at him!" Zim screamed then went downstairs to check on Dib. Dib got up and Zim saw that he was fine.

"Where's my cuuuupppppcaaaaaakkkkke?" Gir said still angry. Gir flew down the stairs and was ready with the juice box aiming at Dib's head. Zim had to think of something before Gir ruined his lunch, but he didn't know what to do. Then Mary saw that they were in trouble.

"Gir," Mary asked making Gir lose focus on the boys. "Do you want to play outside with me?"

"Sure!" Gir said happily. Then Gir turned back to his normal self and ran out to the back yard. Mary went downstairs to meet them. Zim and Dib were surprised at what Mary did.

"How did you know that was going to work?" Dib asked.

"I don't know it was worth a shot. Dib, get out of here before he remembers." Mary suggested.

"Got it! See ya then." Dib said running out of the house before he was hunted down.

"Well, you can go work on your homework, Zim; I'll be playing with Gir." Mary said. He stopped her.

"Aren't you afraid he's going to throw a sandwich at you?" Zim questioned her.

"Not anymore, he's not angry with me, just Dib." Mary said running outside.

"Oh, right. Okay, I'll let you know if I need your help." Zim shouted at Mary who was picking up Gir flying him around like he was airplane.

"Okay!" Mary screamed back at Zim as she ran around the backyard holding Gir. Gir screamed happily while Minimoose followed them. Zim laughed at the sight and went back upstairs to his work. After thirty minutes of running with Gir in the yard, Mary became exhausted and wanted to stop but Gir had a lot more energy left in him.

"I'm gonna go check on Zim." Mary wheezed. "I'll be back in a minute."

"Okay!" Gir screamed as he started racing with Minimoose. Mary walked into the house and grabbed herself a glass of water, and then she went upstairs to check on Zim. When she entered the room, she saw that Zim's head was on his desk. He looked frustrated.

"Zim, what wrong?" Mary said placing her hand on his shoulder. She placed the cup on his desk.

"I don't get any of this! What's the point! I'm not going to get any of this. I'm not that smart. I'm not going to pass that test." Zim ranted to Mary.

"Don't give up, Zim. I know that in fact that you are smart enough, I mean look at all these gadgets that you have lying on the floor." Mary said while Zim looked at his inventions.

"If you're smart enough to make Gir and Minimoose, you can get this. You just need some help that's all and I know you can pass that test." Mary said. Her words pepped him up.

"You're, right, Mary!" Zim shrieked standing out of his chair. "I can't give up now, I just barely started. Now, Mary-Cow, show me how to do this problem." He said showing her the book.

"Would you please stop calling me Mary-Cow?" Mary said annoyed at the pet name.

"Oh, sorry, may I please call you Mary-Cow?" Zim said kind hoping she would agree to the name.

"Oh, alright. I don't see why I am called a cow, I don't look like a cow." Mary said annoyed by her pet name.

"Yes you do, Mary-Moo-Cow!"

"You can't add on to the pet name, Zim!" Mary said embarrassed by her new name.

"What that Mary-Moo-Cow? You want some hhaaayyy?" Zim said taunting her.

"No I don't, I want human food!" Mary said playing along with Zim's game. "This count as your break, now get back to work!"

* * *

After Zim was finished with his homework, it was nine o'clock and it was time for Mary to head home. She got her backpack ready to go and then she handed Zim a piece of paper. Zim looked at the paper and saw it had a phone number on it.

"It's my number. Call me if you're stuck on something. Well, I gotta go before my Dad gets mad at me." Mary said ready to leave out the front door.

"Do you want me to go with you to the bus stop?" Zim asked curiously. "It's kind of scary at night."

"No, I'll be fine. I'll have the notes ready for you tomorrow. See ya, Zim." Mary said leaving out the door.

"Okay, see ya." Zim said holding the door. Then he saw Mary leave off his property and closed the door. Then he saw Gir and Minimoose were getting ready to cry. Zim sighed.

"Don't worry, Mary The Cow will be here tomorrow." Zim said assuring his robots. They suddenly became happy with the news and cheered in joy. They began to fly around the living room. Zim went around his flying robots and went back up in his room. Zim closed the door behind him and went to his top dresser drawer and brought out the Striking Gem. He saw it changed color from purple, red, green, yellow and blue, then purple again.

"If only…" Zim spoke. Then watched the gem changed colors a little longer.


	13. Bacon and Toast!

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long. Yeah, this took me forever and I am glad that this chapter is done with, so enjoy! LI:D it has a hat!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 13: Bacon and Toast!

It was Tuesday morning and it was yet another boring day of skool that has been surprisingly exciting to Zim now. Zim got up from his messy bed, took a crumbled red shirt off from his floor and changed. Zim grabbed his books and papers and shoved them into his backpack. He threw his backpack over his shoulder and met Gir downstairs for breakfast. Zim saw he was making waffles again.

"Can't you make anything other than waffles?" Zim asked sitting at the table. Gir looked at Zim for a minute.

"I can make my famous mush cake with pineapple in it if you don't like waffles." Gir suggested.

"No, no that's okay." Zim said placing a single waffle on his plate.

"Would you like any bacon with your waffle?" Gir asked him. Zim looked at Minimoose who was cooking the bacon on the stove. Zim saw the handle move back and forth by itself.

"How is he doing that?" Zim shrieked surprised by what he was seeing.

"Oh, Minimoose is now psychic." Gir told his master.

"How did he become psychic?" Zim asked Gir.

"I don't know." Gir said wondering. "Can I be a mongoose, now?"

"Look at him," Zim said amazed by what Minimoose is doing. "He's making the bacon while his sitting at the table. I can see the spatula moving and stuff."

"Nyaa!" Minimoose squeaked as he flipped the bacon with his mind.

"Okay, this has to be a dream, I must be dreaming!" Zim said to himself clenching his head with his hands trying to shake himself up from his nightmare.

"I know!" Gir said taking a glass and threw it at Zim's head. The glass shattered from the impact.

" OOOwwww! " Zim screamed. "Why did you do that for?"

"To see if you were dreaming. I see people on TV throw water on themselves to see if they were dreaming." Gir said.

"There was no water in that cup, Gir!" Zim challenged Gir's reasoning skills.

"But the water will hurt you, master!" Gir defended.

"Either way it hurts," Zim said rubbing his head. "At least I know I'm not dreaming now. I'll have to take a look at Minimoose when I get home later."

Minimoose took the pan of bacon and poured it on Zim's waffle, grease and all. Zim questioned his food and decided to have toast instead.

"I'll be having toast." Zim said. He grabbed piece of toast still fresh from the toaster and dashed out the door. The door closed and Minimoose started to cry.

Zim, knowing he's going to be late for his bus, started running out of his neighborhood while eating his toast. Then he saw that Dib and Gaz were at the bus stop as well. Dib and Gaz saw Zim. Dib started to wave and stopped halfway when he had a good look at Zim's head. Dib was shocked by what he saw while Gaz just giggled.

"Hey, guys! I didn't know you were gonna take the bus this morning." Zim said catching his breath.

"Zim, what the hell's wrong with your head?" Dib screamed in horror.

"What are talking about, Dib, I'm perfectly fine." Zim said not aware by the one inch shard of glass sticking out of his right cheek.

"No man, there's a piece of glass stuck in your cheek!" Dib said pointing to Zim's cheek.

"What?" Zim said feeling his cheek then he felt it and freaked out.

"! " Zim screamed running around like a headless chicken.

"Stay still, Zim! I gotta get that out of you!" Dib said following Zim around Gaz. This annoyed Gaz. Dib caught up to Zim and reached for the shard of glass. Zim smacked his head and continued to run around Gaz. Gaz, who was fed up with him, tripped Zim and quickly reached for the glass as Zim fell. She managed to pull the glass as Zim fell on his back; she threw the glass on the concrete and smashed it with her boots.

"Cry baby!" Gaz insulted Zim while he was rubbing his cheek lying on the sidewalk. Dib who was already on the sidewalk from Zim's smack earlier got up and helped Zim.

"Alright," Dib said trying to pull Zim's hand of his wound. "Let's see how bad it is." It took Dib about a minute to pull Zim's hand off his cheek. Zim finally became weak and let Dib take a look at his wound. It looked like a scratch but a bit deeper. It was still bleeding. This worried Dib because Zim's blood was dark pink instead of red. Dib then remembered that Zim was an alien after all, with a different blood type. Dib pulled himself together and tried to figure out a way to stop the bleeding. Zim looked at the blood on his hand and freaked out again.

"AAAAHHHHhhh! I'm bleeding!" Zim screamed in horror.

"Oh, no!" Dib said holding Zim's head in a headlock. "We are not having that again! Now where is that cream my Dad made for you?"

"It's in my backpack's front pocket!" Zim manage to shriek. Dib reached for his backpack and unzipped the front pocket to get the cream. Then Dib unscrewed the lid and smeared some on Zim's cheek. Dib found a band aid from Zim's backpack pocket and stuck it on Zim's cheek. Zim began to calm down and Dib let him go. Zim placed his hand on the band aid and started scratching it. Dib smacked Zim's hand away from his cheek.

"Don't touch it!" Dib screamed. "You'll screw up the band aid!"

"Oh, okay. Do I have stitches?" Zim said curiously at Dib.

"No, Zim. You're fine!" Dib said annoyed by his question. The metro bus pulled up to their stop. Gaz, Dib and Zim pulled out their bus cards to show the driver and entered the bus. Dib and Zim sat together in the middle while Gaz decided to sit in the back. She brought out her game and started playing it.

"So how come you guys are taking the bus?" Zim asked Dib.

"Because my Dad didn't wake up this morning." Dib told Zim. Zim was shocked by the news.

"You mean he's dead!" Zim said loudly. The rest of the bus passengers stared at Zim for a second and went back to their business. Dib smacked his own head from Zim's comment.

"No, Zim! He slept in too much this morning that he forgot to drive us to skool. He was having one of his super toast dreams again. He wouldn't be dead."

"Well, Dib, how was I supposed to know? The way you described it, you made it sound like he was dead."

"If he was dead, we wouldn't be going to skool right now would we?" Dib questioned Zim. Zim opened his mouth then shut it not knowing what to say. They stayed quiet the rest of the trip. Then they got off the bus and walked to the skool. It was about 7:30 A.M. when they entered Cess Pool View Hi skool. Zim and Dib walked into the skool together while their sister walked away from them.

"Do you think she's embarrassed by us?" Zim asked Dib.

"Yep, I would be too." Dib said and they both laughed.

"So how were you and Mary last night?" Dib asked curious about what happened last night after he left.

"Well, we set up my desk, burned your porn and I finished my homework. A pretty successful night!" Zim said pleased. "Oh, and Mary has a new nickname now."

"Oh, God. What did you call her?" Dib said horrified by the possible name.

"Mary-Moo-Cow. " Zim smirked.

"Aw snap," Dib laughed his head off. "I would kill you if you called me a cow."

"Really? " Zim said. "We thought her nickname was funny."

"Man, if I were you, I would not call her that anymore. Women don't like to be seen as fat."

"What? She's not fat; she just looks like a cow the way her eyes are all wide like." Zim defended his case.

"I don't know, Zim." Dib said. "Whenever you say they look like a large animal, they seem to be offended by it. Watch yourself, Zim. Women are fickle creatures."

"Well, we will see about that!" Zim challenged Dib. Then Zim saw Mary walking into the skool.

"Hey, Mary-Moo-Cow! " Zim screamed waving his arms in the air to get her attention. Everyone that heard him snickered at the comment. Mary turned and saw Zim calling her by her new pet name. She sighed. She walked up to Zim annoyed.

"You're going to still call me that?" Mary asked him crossing her arms.

"Yep. Why? Don't you like it?" Zim asked a little disappointed by her response.

"I do, but it's kind of embarrassing when you scream it in the hallways like that." Mary said. Zim thought about for a bit and agreed.

"Yeah, because nobody would know who I am screaming at."

"Yes, exactly," Mary agreed hoping someday he would understand her point of view.

"Okay, no screaming Mary-Moo-Cow in the hallways. So what's new?" Zim asked her. Mary not minding her nick name that much remembered what she was going to tell them.

"Well, I'm not sure how I should say this but…" Mary said and then she was cut off by one of their classmates.

"Hey, guys," Sara said going up to Zim and Dib. "Which one is the little brother, ha ha ha!" Dib and Zim suddenly knew what this meant. The whole skool knew about their secret.

"Who told you?" Zim questioned Sara grabbing on to her shoulders.

"Let go of me, Zim!" Sara said as Zim suddenly let her go. "It's all over the Gossip Bug!"

"What?" Zim and Dib said at the same time and then ran through the hallways trying to find Josh.

"Man, they really are like siblings," Sara said to Mary while running her fingers through long black blue hair. "I don't know why I didn't see that before."

"I guess because nobody really cared unless it's embarrassing." Mary said to Sara. Sara rolled her eyes at Mary's comment and joined Jessica and her group in the hallways.

"Like I would care, Loser." Sara said to Mary. Her friends laughed at Mary and walked away. Mary shrugged her shoulders and decided to go to her locker to get her books for her classes.

Meanwhile, Zim and Dib looked around the hallways in building one to find their rat.

"Got the needle ready, Zim?" Dib asked as they both ran through the hallways.

"I'm sharpening it as we speak, Dib!" Zim said rubbing his needle against the needle's sharpening pad. Then they saw Brian who was getting his books out of his locker. They suddenly stopped right in front of Brian.

"Do you know where's Josh's first period is?" Dib questioned Brian as Zim kept on sharpening the needle.

"What's this all about?" Brian said looking at them confused.

"Josh wrote about us being brothers and now we are going to poke his eye out." Zim said still sharpening the needle.

"Want to watch?" Dib questioned Brian. Brian smiled at the thought.

"Man, why wouldn't I, his first class is in building two, let's go!" Brian said as he ran with the boys. They crossed into building two next to Mrs. Shill's class where they saw Josh and Tina kissing outside the classroom.

"Hey Josh!" Zim screamed making them stop kissing. "Remember the whole needle in the eye thing, it's time for retribution!" Josh saw that Zim was running towards him with the needle and started running as well getting away from Zim's needle. Josh started screaming while Tina was chasing after Zim to make him stop. Brian stood in the hallway and watched the race with the rest of the students.

Ahhhhhh! What did I do?" Josh screamed still running from Zim.

"You know what you did! Now pay for your consequences!" Zim said continuing to run.

Zim eventually caught up to Josh and grabbed the back of his red coat and stopped him. Then he slammed him next to the lockers. The students next to lockers stepped aside to see what was going down. Josh looked frightened.

"What's going on?" Josh said trying to get answer from Zim.

"Don't play dumb, we know that you revealed our secret on the Gossip Bug!" Zim interrogated Josh.

"What? Somebody wrote about you guys! Look, man, you got it all wrong! I have nothing to do with it!" Josh pleaded to Zim while he was still gripping his needle. Josh looked at the needle and saw it was a really long and thick. Like one of those upholstery needles.

"You Lie" Zim snapped. He getting ready to poke and then Tina grabbed Zim's hand making him drop the needle.

"Wait, it's not his fault!" Tina finally said. Zim looked at her confused. Dib finally catching up with the group looked at Tina.

"It's mine! I wrote it up on the Gossip Bug blog and well I didn't think anyone would be interested in it but I guess it's today's hot topic."

"Why would you do that?" Zim questioned her letting Josh go. Josh fixed his jacket and moved to Tina's side away from Zim wondering himself as well.

"Why wouldn't I?" Tina smirked. "It was pretty good gossip and if my man can't seem to spread it, then it's my duty as his girlfriend to spread it for him for I am the Gossip Queen! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"What?" Zim said looking at Tina confused. Zim looked at Josh hoping for an answer but he was shocked by his girlfriend's evil laughter. The crowd not that interested in Tina's hysterically laughing disbanded and went back to their classrooms getting ready for first period.

"So this is what it feels like! No wonder you do it, Josh!" Tina giggled hugging him. Josh then pushed her aside and shook his head.

"That was not cool, Tina." Josh said. "We promised those guys that we wouldn't reveal their family business to the skool, remember?"

"Yeah, but they only asked you to promise." Tina said looking at Josh.

"Yeah, but we work on the site together, you should know better than this." Josh said to Tina.

"Well, I don't see the big deal about their secret anyways," Tina said offended by what Josh was scolding her. "Nobody got hurt."

"Nobody got hurt! I almost got my eye poked out!" Josh snapped at Tina.

"Remind me again why we hang out with these people." Zim whispered to Dib while those two were arguing.

"Because we don't have anyone else to hang out with, unless you want to try Keef again." Dib whispered back to Zim.

"Oh Hell no! " Zim snapped in Dib's ear. Dib rubbed his ear from Zim's shouting. Zim looked over and saw that Josh and Tina stopped arguing. They were now focused on them. Josh glared at him. Zim knew he screwed up so he decided to make things right.

"I'm sorry, Josh. I should have not charged at you and tried to poke your eye out with my needle." Zim said awkwardly.

"Yeah you shouldn't have. Do us all a favor and listen before you stab!" Josh said pointing at Zim's needle on the ground. Zim nodded and picked up his needle from the hallway's floor.

"Well, missy," Zim said looking at Tina. "Where is our apology?" Tina smiled and bowed her head.

"I am sorry." Tina bowed. Knowing she was not serious in her apology, Zim and Dib became annoyed by it but they heard the bell and decided to go to class. Zim, not pleased by her apology, went up to her.

"You better watch your eyes, Tina!" Zim said pointing to his eyes then went into Mr. Holic's classroom.

* * *

Through all of Dib and Zim's' classes, they couldn't help the fact that they were being laughed at by their relations as adopted brother. In math Zim and Dib were asked weird question like if they lived in the same house, shared a room and even a bed. Zim just ignored their questions while Dib answered all of them hoping the gossip would pass quickly without turning into something worse. Mr. Holic allowed this because he thought it was funny and more interesting then what he was teaching. Then in gym, their gym teacher, Mr. Millmere questioned why he had to send two different report cards to two different addresses if they were brothers. Dib yet again, had to explain everything. Dib told his teacher that it was because Zim wanted to live in the house that his parents left him in their will for personal reasons. Zim really wanted to live in his house alone because he liked his privacy and he knew that if he started living there, they would have a hard time tolerating Gir and Minimoose. After those two separated to their third period class, those two were on their own answering the same old questions again. This really annoyed Zim to the point of frustration that by the time it was lunch he didn't even want to enter the cafeteria. He just leaned against his locker. Mary saw Zim in the hallway leaning on the lockers. She saw he looked annoyed and decided to see what's up.

"Hey, are you okay?" Mary asked.

"What does it look like?" Zim snapped at her.

"Yeah, you're right, stupid question." Mary said looking down. Zim saw she felt bad for asking.

"I'm sorry Mary. I just don't like this whole situation. I used to been feared in these hallways, Mary. Feared! Now I'm just a laughing stock!" Zim screamed to Mary.

"You're not a laughing stock, Zim." Mary said trying to comfort Zim. Then Melvin and The Letter M walked by.

"Hey, Zim! Do you guys have like Christmas together and such, because I would pay to see you guys fight over your toys!" Melvin screeched as The Letter M laughed his ass off.

"In your dreams, idiots! " Zim screamed back. Then he turned his head to look at Mary.

"You were saying." Zim said to her. Mary didn't know what to say to that.

"Well, I don't see why they have to make a big deal out of this." Mary said. "It's not like you guys did something off the wall."

"Ha, anything is 'off the wall' to these people. Just last week they made fun of Chunk for screaming out Mama while he was sleeping in class. They gave him a hard time after that calling him Mama's boy and imitating his scream. Well, I guess it could be worst. I'll have to deal with it until it blows over, huh?"

"I would say that would be the best bet, Zim." Mary agreed with Zim. They stopped and saw that Gretchen and Dib were standing next to them.

"So how are you holding up, Zim?" Gretchen said to Zim.

"Okay I guess. They stopped questioning me and moved on to taunting." Zim answered her.

"Yeah, I hate it when they start doing that." Gretchen said looking at Dib for comfort holding his hand.

"How do you deal with it, Gretchen? Everyone seems to make fun of your braces and it's not like you can beat the snot out of the whole student body." Zim questioned Gretchen. Gretchen thought to herself for a minute to think of the best answer.

"It used to hurt me a lot when people were talking about how ugly my braces were and how ugly I was then I realized one day that all those peoples opinions never really mattered in the first place. They just needed a scapegoat that's all. Zim, what you need is a strong girlfriend to beat the snot out of them. I have Dib beat the living snot out of anyone you makes fun of my braces to the point that no one makes fun of me at all. So instead of being made fun of, I am feared. You need to beat the crap at of all of them. Beat them up like you never beaten up anyone before and I would start with that Tina girl!"

"I can't hit a girl, Gretchen." Zim said to her.

"Ah, but that's why you need a girlfriend, Zim. A girl that will beat up the girls for you. That's how we been doing it." Gretchen said standing next to Dib proudly.

"Is that how you been dealing with it Dib?" Zim asked him.

"Yep, after third period, I just couldn't take the questions anymore so Gretchen and I went around the hallways punching anyone who asked. I'd take on the boys while she took on the girls." Dib said proudly as well. Zim and Mary were shocked by what they had just heard.

"Ummm…thanks for the advice?" Zim said and continued on. "But I'm gonna let this one go. I already have a pretty thick permanent record at this skool, I don't want to make it any bigger."

"Soot yourself." Dib said. Then Melvin went up to Dib and asked the same questioned he just asked Zim and got punched in the arm for it. Melvin squealed and ran away.

"So Tina was the one who wrote it on the Gossip Bug?" Mary asked Zim.

"Yep, almost took out Josh's eye over this misunderstanding until she revealed herself." Zim answered her questioned. "But I did apologize to him."

"That's good that you did!" Mary said scolding Zim. "You shouldn't even have that needle in the first place! Its bad influence on you and it's going to cause you nothing but trouble."

"Yeah, you're right." Zim said taking the needle out of his backpack and placed it in the trash can.

"Out of sight, out of mind, let's go eat lunch." Zim said to Mary. Mary agreed and followed Zim into the cafeteria. There he saw Tina, Brian, and Josh eating their lunches at the usual table.

"Do you want to eat at the same table with them?" Mary questioned Zim.

"Yeah, Josh and I are cool it's Tina I am wondering about. After we demanded an apology out of her, she apologized like it was nothing. It really pissed me off. I want to know if she is still playing the same tune. I can just leave if I don't like what I hear." Zim said to Mary.

"I see." Mary peeped out trying to understand the situation. Zim saw she was a little confused.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get you involved in this." Zim said to Mary. "I don't want to separate you from your friends. You can sit with them if you want. It wouldn't mind."

"Zim, I don't care about that. I can still be friends with Josh and Brian but with Tina. I don't know if I would feel comfortable around her. It wasn't right that she revealed that information to anyone. I'm on your side on this one." Mary said to him. Zim smiled knowing he had another ally on his side and they continued to the table. Tina saw that they were approaching the table and began to cry. Zim looked at the girl confused.

"Why is she crying?" Zim asked Josh who was trying to make her stop. "Did Gretchen beat her up?"

"No, Zim," Tina said sniffing her nose. "I just feel bad that I did this to you guys. I don't know what came over me last night. I was on the computer bored out of my mind that I thought it would be funny to post it. I didn't think it was going to get out of hand."

"What about the whole Gossip Queen thing, what the hell was that all about?" Zim asked the deranged girl. She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Well, that's hard for me to explain, but I will try anyways. You see, Josh and I work on the Gossip Bug webpage together. Josh would find out the rumors while I would type it. I have amazing typing skills so me typing keeps the website up to date. Anyways, since I knew Josh couldn't spread it I thought it was good idea for me to do it. I just wanted to see how it feels to actually start up a something, but I never thought it would go this far. This morning I thought you guys were making a big deal out of nothing and didn't see how seriously I hurt you all so I am truly sorry for my actions. If there is anything I can do to make this right I would do it in a heartbeat. " Tina said to Zim while he was thinking about what the girl had said to him.

"Anything?" Zim questioned her. "I know a way. Write an embarrassing rumor about yourself to make this whole thing blow over and I will call it even. I don't know about Dib though."

Then he saw Dib entered the cafeteria with Gretchen getting ready for another round of questions. Zim waved to them wanting them to come over. Dib and Gretchen confused by Zim's expression decided to investigate. Gretchen saw the girl sitting at the table and bent over getting ready to punch her.

"Well, well, well if it isn't Clueless!" Gretchen said holding Tina up by her shirt getting ready to punch. "Is there anything you want to say before I pulverize you?"

"I know what I did is bad and I am truly sorry now." Tina said making Gretchen let go Tina. "I want to make thing right so I am willing to do what Zim suggested. I will write an embarrassing rumor about myself to have them focus plainly on me. I will endure the mocking as my punishment for revealing your guys' secret."

Zim and Dib stepped aside for a minute to think about the girls' proposal, Tina, Gretchen, Brian, Mary and Josh watched those two talks with each other. They saw Zim explaining to Dib and Dib glared at Tina for a minute while Zim was still reasoning to him. Then they saw Dib turn towards Zim and nodded his head in agreement. They walked back to the group with their decision.

"Alright, Tina, we will forgive you if you make up this rumor but it has to be a good one. Then we can forget this ever happened and go back to being friends only if you promise not to do this again." Zim said to her.

"You still want to be my friends after what I did?" Tina said.

"Sure, but it will take time. Besides, it would be wrong to split up the group over this little tiff." Zim said to her. Dib nodded while Gretchen looked away.

"Alright! I promise I will not do this again. I will work on the rumor tonight. Let's eat our lunch then." Tina smiled. That's when Gretchen, Dib, Zim and Mary reunited with their group and sat down to eat.

* * *

The final bell rang and it was time to go home. Zim was relieved that this day was going to be over soon, he went to his locker to get his books and saw Mary was at her locker.

"Hey, Mary-Moo-Cow!" Zim shouted in joy. Mary looked around wondering where Zim was. Then she saw Zim waving his hands in the air. Mary still couldn't believe he was still calling her that but she knew it couldn't be helped. Mary sighed, gathered her supplies, closed her locker and walked over to him.

"So, do you have any Calculus work today?" Mary asked.

"Yep, not that much, Mr. Holic was much more interested in our affairs than his lesson so it is more of a book chapter thing." Zim said to her while getting his books out of his locker.

"I see. I did find my notes from last year so you can take a look at them." Mary said placing her backpack on the skool's dirty floor rustling through her notebook. They weren't there, so she tried looking through her books instead bringing two of her books out of her backpack.

"I guess I'm not that organized as I thought but I do remember taking them this morning." Mary said flipping through her notebook again.

"Maybe you should start carrying a desk in your backpack." Zim joked.

"Yeah, too bad the desk would be too big to even fit in my backpack." Mary said laughing at the thought.

"Well, don't worry about finding them now. I don't have work today, so I was wondering if you just want to come over to my house. We can take the bus together." Zim asked feeling a little embarrassed for some reason then suddenly turned away. "That's if you want to of course, if not, that's okay too."

"No, it's fine. I'll just let my Dad know I'll be at your house after skool." Mary said trying to put her books back into her backpack. Jessica and her group of friends came walking through the hallways. She saw that Mary was struggling trying to shove her books into her backpack. Jessica thought of something funny to do and decided to act on it so she walked by quickly placing her hand on Mary's books and pushed them out of her hands. The books dropped on the floor while the girls laughed and walked away. Zim became furious.

"Hey, what the hell did you do that for? What she ever do to you to deserve this treatment?" Zim screamed at Jessica. Jessica stopped and turned around with her friends looked at Zim and smirked.

"Cause she's a clumsy fat cow!" Jessica said hoping to hurt Mary's feelings. Mary just glared at her.

"She's not fat like you! She just looks like a cow, that's all!" Zim shouted at the girls as they giggled at the remark. Mary smacked her forehead.

"Yeah, you're right she does look like a cow." Jessica said as they continued to giggle.

"It's better than being a bitch, but for that to be true, you would have to be considered a dog. Oh, right, you are a dog so it fits." Zim rambled. Jessica stopped laughing while her friends continued on then stopped after Jessica stared them down. Then she turned to Zim.

"How dare you! When my boyfriend find out about this, your ass is grasped!" Jessica pointed to him.

"If he's going to do something about it maybe, either way it was worth it." Zim chuckled at Jessica's threat. Jessica became frustrated and walked away with her friends. Then Zim heard someone chuckled. Then he turned and saw that it was Mary.

"He, he, he, ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!" Mary laughed hysterically. Zim began to laugh also.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Mary continued on then stopped to try to catch her breath. "Ah ha heh heh I can't believe you just said that and the look on her face! It was priceless!"

"Ah ah ha ha ha ha! Yeah, I know I didn't know I was going to say that either! I just made it up." Zim said chuckling a bit.

"That was the funniest thing I had ever seen in my life! And the funny part is that I don't care that her feelings got hurt. Excuse my language but she's a bitch." Mary said feeling awkward by her swearing. Zim thought it was cute.

"Yes, Mary, come to the dark side and join me against the bullies in the skool. It's a lot more fun!"

"Wouldn't we be on the light side since we are teasing the bullies?" Mary questioned him.

"No, leave that to the guidance counselors! We'd be on the bad side causing our own style of mischief for justice!" Zim ranted on proudly.

"So we would be somewhere between both as in the gray part of society."Mary said picking up her books of the ground and placing them in her backpack.

"Exactly!" Zim finally agreed. "Come on, we have to catch our bus!"

Mary smiled to Zim proudly. Mary didn't mind her new nickname that much anymore. Then picked up her backpack, placed it on her back and followed Zim out of the skool to the bus stop where they met Dib and Gaz at the bus stop.

"Hey, guys," Dib waved at Zim and Mary. "Don't you have to work today?"

"No, I got the day off. Mary and I are going to study at my place. It would be a perfect day to catch up to figure out what the heck Mr. Holic was actually talking about."

"Yeah, sometimes I don't even know what he's talking about." Dib said. Zim nodded and saw that there was one person missing from the group.

"Hey, how come Gretchen isn't here?" Zim asked Dib. "Doesn't she usually take the bus?"

"Yeah, but today she had to go to orchestra after skool. They have a recital coming up so they are cracking the whip." Dib said holding an invisible whip making it snap.

"I didn't know she was in orchestra. What kind of instrument does she play?"

"The violin, nothing special but the way she plays it, it's like the violin is actually alive." Dib sighed thinking of the music she played.

"And that's good right?" Zim said looking at Dib strangely.

"Yea, it is. Trust me." Dib said patting Zim's shoulder.

"Okay, if you say so." Zim said. "For a minute there I thought Gretchen got in trouble for punching a bunch of kids, how many did you have to punch today?"

"About 43 kids altogether." Dib said holding his fist out in victory.

"Wow, I'm surprised you guys didn't get caught by the teachers."

"Yeah, they were smoking in the hallways so we figured they didn't care. When somebody starts their smoking break we already know they have a lot on their minds."

"Figures," Zim said annoyed. "If you guys start punching people they don't give really care but when I start punch they are all like, 'No, Zim stop. Stop punching him. You're making that kid cry.'" Imitating the teacher that made him stop beating that kid last year. The kid was making fun of how green he looked. He remembered having to be suspended for a week while the kid got detention. Zim stopped fighting on skool property after that. Zim came back to the present time and looked over at Mary who was on her cell phone.

"Okay, Dad. I'll be home by dinnertime, promise." Mary said on the phone. "Okay, see ya then. Okay bye." Then she closed her cell phone.

"Well, my Dad's okay with it as long as I'm home by six." Mary said to Zim.

"Okay and just in time, the bus is pulling up to stop." Zim said pointing to the bus coming up the road. Dib, Gaz and Mary entered the bus revealing their skool bus card. Zim dig in his pockets looking for his card and noticed it was missing. He shrugged his shoulders and pays the driver instead giving her the right amount of change. Then they took their seats in the back. Mary and Zim sat together while Dib sat opposite on those two while Gaz sat in the last seat of the bus in the way back.

"Zim, what happened to your bus card?" Dib asked him. "Don't tell me you lost it again?"

"I did. But this time it was for a really good reason." Zim said.

"And what reason is that, Zim?" Dib questioned.

"Easy, I'm an irresponsible idiot!" Zim joked while Dib became annoyed.

"Dad's going to ring your neck, that's like the third card you lost this year and the year is not even half-way over!" Dib said.

"He'll ring my neck if he finds out and he is not gonna, right Dib?" Zim threaten bringing another needle out of his backpack pocket. Mary was surprised.

"Zim, I thought you got rid of that needle!" Mary shrieked.

"Oh, I did! I just have some extras in my backpack." Zim smirked. Mary just looked at Zim irritated.

"What was the point of throwing that needle away if you had other needles anyways?" Mary asked him.

"I don't know you tell me?" Zim questioned her back becoming annoyed.

"Zim, what is up with you threatening people with needles?" Dib asked curious.

"I dunno, I have this sewing needle set from last year's Home Education Class. I really don't know what to do with them." Zim said fishing the set out of his backpack.

"You fix the holes in your socks Zim, not use them for threats! You know what; I don't need to explain this to you. You should know better, give them here." Dib said snatching the set out of Zim's hand.

"Hey, give me back my needles!" Zim said. "I had to pay five bucks for them!"

"Well, then, here you go!" Dib said pulling a five out of his pocket and smacking it on Zim hand. "I'm buying them from you."

"But what will I use to defend myself." Zim asked Dib. Dib looked at Zim weirdly at his concerns.

"Zim, you're like the buffest kid in our skool. You even beat Torque in the president fitness test in our class!"

"Oh, yeah." Zim said feeling a little silly. "That was pretty funny! I'm a shrimp compared to that guy and somehow I was stronger."

"Yeah, he was like, 'Hey that's not right.'" Dib said impersonating Torque's voice. "You really don't need the needles Zim."

"Yea, you're right." Zim said. "I can just punch their jaws out."

"No punching peoples jaws out Zim." Dib warned him.

"Jeez, relax Dib, it was just an expression. I'm not going to really punch someone's jaw out." Zim said trying to calm Dib down. "But, it does make me wonder if I can…"

"Well, no time for wondering our stop is coming up." Dib said pulling the bus cord.

"Aaaoohhwww…" Zim murmured. The bus stopped outside their neighborhood and the gang exit off the bus. They continued to walk until they reached Dib and Gaz's house.

"Oh, wait!" Dib said. "Want to grab something first." Dib said running into their house. Zim looked at Gaz strangely while she glared back.

"What, am I responsible for my brother's weird behavior?" Gaz questioned them. Then Dib came out of the house holding a cupcake.

"Here, give this to Gir!" Dib said holding out the cupcake. It was chocolate cupcake with pink frosting on top with rainbow sprinkles.

"No Dib, you have to give this to him yourself." Zim said to him.

"Can't you say that I made it for him?" Dib questioned.

"No." Zim answered Dib back.

"What's the cupcake for, Dib?" Gaz asked his brother. Dib and Zim became embarrassed thinking about the event with the porn and didn't answer her.

"Dib promised Gir a cupcake and he didn't have one the last time he visit and got pulverized with a sandwich." Mary said laughing at that moment of explaining it to Gaz.

"Really?" Gaz said interested.

"Yeah, we heard him screaming when he fell down the stairs from the impact. Gir was about to aim a juice box at him but I stopped him." Mary continued on.

"Why?" Gaz questioned her.

"Girl, I don't want to help clean up a juice mess. That's way too sticky." Mary said to that.

"I get it now, humph, no wonder you were making cupcakes like crazy last night, Dib." Gaz said smirking at Dib.

"Yeah, hopefully, he would like this one so he won't kill me." Dib said holding the cupcake like it was a beacon of hope.

"I don't know, Dib, Gir been really picky with his cupcakes lately." Zim joked to Dib.

"Yeah, well he won't turn down this one." Dib said having confidence in his badass cupcake making skills. "Let's go!"

Zim, Gaz, and Mary shrugged their shoulders and headed towards Zim's house.

"Hey, I was wondering about something, Zim. What happen to your cheek?" Mary said pointing at Zim's band aid.

"Oh, that." Zim said rubbing his cheek. He totally forgot about the injury. "Gir threw a glass at me to see if I was dreaming."

"What?" Mary said in shock.

"Yeah, it surprised me too. I had a piece of glass snuck in my cheek but I pulled it out like it was no big deal." Zim lied.

"More like you ran around screaming your head off and I had to pull it out for you." Gaz corrected Zim. Mary smirked at Zim's reaction to Gaz's side of the story.

"Then you started screaming again because you were bleeding." Dib added.

"Hey, there was a lot of blood!" Zim defended.

"Dude, only a little bit. We were surprised he didn't bleed his whole cheek out from that injury." Dib said explaining this to Mary. "You should consider yourself lucky, Zim."

Mary chuckled at the thought of Zim running around and wishes she could have been there to see it while Zim became embarrassed rubbing his cheek.

"Hey, why are you coming to my house anyways, Gaz?" Zim questioned turning around to look at her.

"To see if Dib would be pulverized by the sandwich again." Gaz answered him.

"Oh, okay then." Zim said.

"What? How do you know that I will get pulverized again?" Dib asked his sister.

"Your cupcakes weren't that great, maybe there will be a round two and I don't want to miss it." Gaz rebutted him.

"What? They are great; in fact I saw you ate three of them in one sitting yesterday." Dib said to Gaz.

"Yeah, only because I was hungry." Gaz defended.

"Okay, now you are being a jerk!" Dib snapped at her while Gaz stuck out her tongue at him.

"Children," Zim said getting their attention. "We are here so be quiet. I don't want to wake the baby next door, he is very cranky fellow." Then a loud piercing whale came out of the neighbor's window and almost made them go deaf.

"Too late," Zim screamed. "Let's go inside!" Zim opened the door to let his guests in and closed it behind them.

"Man, that was a close one." Zim said relieve to get out of the screaming power of the baby, and then he noticed it was pitch black in the house. This worries him.

"Gir, Minimoose," Zim said searching for the light switch on the wall. "Where are you guys?"

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Master!" Gir squealed at Zim when he turned on the lights, Gir was right at Zim's eye level when he greeted him. Zim jumped a little in surprise. Gir saw this and chuckled. Mary, Dib and Gaz chuckled with Gir.

"Gir! Don't do that! You startled me." Zim shrieked looking at his robot in his doggie suit.

"I know, he he!" Gir said to him and then saw that Dib, Gaz and Mary were with him.

"OH! PARTY!" Gir squealed in joy.

"No, party, Gir. Dib is here to give you something." Zim said to Gir. Gir looked at Dib and saw that he had a cupcake in his hand.

"CUPCAKE!" Gir squealed yet again in joy. He jumped up and down holding his hands out for the cupcake.

"Here you go." Dib said handing it to him. Gir ate the cupcake in one bite and licked the paper wrapper. Grateful for retrieving the cupcake, Gir suddenly hugged Dib's head covering his face.

"AHhhh! Gir, get off me!" Dib said trying to pull the robot off his head.

"No, Gir, get off Dib's head!" Zim demanded while pulling him off as well. Gaz and Mary looked at the trio and laughed.

"Is it crazy like this all the time?" Mary asked Gaz.

"You have no idea. That's why I don't come here that often." Gaz answered her back. Zim finally was able to pull Gir off his head and Dib was able to breathe again. Zim placed Gir on the ground and shook his head.

"No, Gir, next time say thank you, don't grab on people's heads!" Zim shrieked in his effort of discipline.

"Thank You!" Gir peeped to Dib.

"Yeah, no problem." Dib said rubbing the area where Gir held on to him.

"Hey where's Minimoose?" Zim asked Gir. Just then the kitchen lights turned on and made the gang look over. There was Minimoose in the kitchen next to the dining table with a chair next to it.

"Nyya!" Minimoose squealed, he looked furious.

"Okay…That was creepy. What's wrong, Minimoose." Zim said to him. Minimoose made the chair slid out of the kitchen into the living room, picked up Zim in it and dragged him into the kitchen. Dib, Mary and even Gaz were shocked by this.

"How the hell did that happen?" Dib shouted confused.

"Oh, yeah, Minimoose is psychic!" Zim said answering his question as he was dragged away, then Zim's chair stopped in front of the table. The crew followed him into the kitchen and saw Zim was in front of a plate with hard greased up stripes of bacon stuck to a single waffle.

"How can a robot have psychic powers?" Dib asked Zim.

"I don't know, Dib, I just don't know." Zim said to him horrified by what was happening to him. Gir walked into the kitchen, saw his master and smiled.

"Gir, what is this!" Zim shrieked to him.

"Minimoose is upset that you didn't eat his breakfast he made for you this morning so he wants you to eat it for dinner. I even made some mashed potatoes to go with it." Gir said pointing to the bowl of mashed potatoes next to the plate.

"Nya!" Minimoose said agreeing to what Gir just told him and started warming up the plate with his mind. Zim saw the grease began to bubble.

"He made you breakfast and you didn't eat it." Mary said offended. "No wonder the poor guy's upset."

"Well, look at it!" Zim said to her. "Would you eat that?"

"I would eat that if the grease was removed." Mary said.

"You see, Minimoose I would have never been able to that because it was too greasy, it would make me sick." Zim said hoping to reason with Minimoose.

"Minimoose would have drained the fat for you, if you asked," Gir continued on. "but because you left him, he decided that you eat it with grease as punishment."

"What? I can't eat this!" Zim said. He tried to push himself out of the chair but he didn't budge. He was pinned down.

"Just eat the waffle, Zim; you wouldn't want the grease to become cold and hard again." Gaz joked to him.

"Do you always have to be this annoying?" Zim said looking at her.

"It does run in the family." Gaz said.

"Hey," Dib said offended.

"Look, Minimoose I'm sorry that I ditched your breakfast but could I please not eat this." Zim said. He felt strong force pushing Zim's face close to the plate. Zim would have hit head first into the plate but he caught himself in time pushing himself up against the table. He was an inch away from the plate. "Okay, okay, okay." Zim said giving into the strong force. "I will eat it." Minimoose hearing this became pleased and let go of Zim, he felt the pressure come off him instantly and started picking up the fork next to the plate.

"Wait, hold up." Dib said pulling something out of his pocket. Zim thought he was going to be saved but instead Dib pulled out his camcorder.

"Dib, I thought you were done videotaping strangers that looked weird to you." Zim snapped at him.

"I am I brought this along because Gretchen and I were at the Zoo last Friday and well we videotaped a monkey vomiting on the zookeeper on accident." Dib chuckled watching the video. "I forgot I had this in my pocket." Dib then pointed the camcorder at Zim with the plate in frame. "Now I'm going to add this to my funny collection. This is definably going on the family's Easter Video Card."

"No, freakin' way!" Zim screamed at him.

"Come on, Zim. Eat it already." Dib said coming closer to get a better picture. "Eat it. Eat it. Eat it." Dib started chanting.

"Eat it. Eat it. Eat it. Eat it." Gaz started chanting with Dib.

"Eat it. Eat it. Eat it. Eat it." Gir began to chant.

"Eat it. Eat it. Eat it…" Mary finally chanted along still thinking this whole thing is just weird.

Zim finally gave in and ate the whole waffle in one bit to get over the ordeal as quickly as possible. He chewed it and swallowed it, barely tasting the grease. Then he felt it try to come up his throat and ran upstairs to the bathroom. Dib followed close right behind him and caught him throwing up in the toilet. Then he taped the vomit and Zim wiping left over vomit off his mouth. Gaz and Dib saw this and began to laugh while Mary came up the stairs, saw they were laughing at him and glared at the two. Zim burped a bit and continued to throw up in the toilet.


	14. Having Fun with Strategies and War!

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 14: Having Fun with Strategies and War!

Zim didn't feel well after he was forced to eat Minimoose's late breakfast. It took him a while to stop throwing up the grease. Dib was even disgusted by how long it took him that he had to turn off the camcorder. Dib figured that Zim threw up at least five times straight. This worried Mary to the point that she sat right next to Zim with a glass of water suggesting that he should drink it so he wouldn't be dehydrated. Zim refused it and continued to throw up. After he was done, he went into his room and sat on his bed. He looked even greener than before. Mary thought he would like a juice box instead so she went into Zim's refrigerator, retrieved one, went back upstairs and handed it to him. He took it and drank the whole thing. Mary was relieved that he drank it. Dib saw on how miserable Zim looked. Dib thought this was not funny anymore and decided to delete the video he just recorded. Zim was grateful that he did. Then he saw Minimoose and Gir who was peeping into his room from the hallway. Zim called them in and ask for Minimoose to come sit on his lap. Dib and Mary thought he was going to hurt the little robot and warned Minimoose to stay away, but Minimoose didn't listen to them and sat on Zim's lap. Zim then opened the back of the robot to see how he was able to become psychic. Zim fiddled with Minimoose's cords and was puzzled by how he was capable of doing it. He remembered that he didn't put any kind of hardware that would make this possible. He rubbed his eyes in frustration and closed Minimoose back up. Minimoose squeaked a bit and moved off of Zim's lap. Gir and Minimoose left the room. After that, Zim wanted to get the homework done as soon as possible so he can rest. Mary gave him the notes she had from last year and suggested to study them later when he felt better. Zim agreed to Mary's proposal and they began Zim's chapter work. Dib and Gaz thought it was time for them to leave and let themselves out. Mary helped Zim finish the chapter work and offered Zim anything he wants before she left. Zim didn't want anything and told her it was better that he would get some rest. Mary agreed and let herself out. Gir and Minimoose came into their master's room to apologize for their actions earlier. Zim wanted to scream at them for making him eat that disgusting meal but he was too weak to even yell so he wrapped himself under his covers and told them it was okay. Gir and Minimoose went on end of Zim's bed to comfort him. Zim allowed this letting them sleep at the foot of his bed. Zim eventually fell asleep.

The next day, Zim felt well enough to go to skool, plus he had to do his after skool job anyways so he might as well suck it up. He took the bus alone and made it to the skool on time. He went up to skool's entrance and stopped.

"I wonder if Tina really wrote the rumor about herself like she said she would. Oh, well, there is one way to find out." Zim said to himself as he opened the door. He saw that most of the students were more focus in their lockers and chatting with their friends than on him walking through the hallways. Zim was pleased by this and went up to his locker. There Zim saw Dib and Josh standing in the hallways. He saw that Dib and Josh were looking into Josh's PDA giggling to themselves. Zim was curious by what they were watching and went up to the two. Zim hoped they weren't watching him puke.

"What's going on?" Zim questioned Dib and Josh annoyed by their laughers. Josh stopped giggling and showed Zim what was on his PDA.

"Here, this is the rumor that Tina made up to wash over your guys' business." Josh showed Zim a video of Tina who stole the younger girl's doll away from her. Tina waved the doll above the girl's head and the girl punched Tina right in the stomach making Tina fall to her knees. The girl then began punching and kicking her on the ground. Tina clenched her legs into her stomach and protected her head with her arms. The girl than grabbed back her doll, left Tina and then came back to kick her. Zim was confused by what he saw.

"I don't get it?" Zim said to Josh. "What does this have to do with getting rid of yesterday's news?"

"Dude, Tina is getting beatin' up by her ten-year-old sister, Maya. We were thinking of a great rumor to spread yesterday so instead of something disgusting or sexual in any way or form, we decided on something funny. Tina said that her sister was always mean and a big bully to her. She said this embarrassed her the most because her sister was stronger than her and was able to beat her up easily. We decided it was an even trade. One family secret over the other, this time it's even more embarrassing. So we recorded this yesterday and posted it on Gossip Bug. We have at least three hundred hits so far. It's pretty hilarious. " Josh explained to Zim. Zim looked around and saw that everyone was giggling and watching the video from their cell phones. He thought that this would please him to see Tina getting what she deserved for causing such an annoyance yesterday, but it just seemed sad to him. He looked over at Dib and Josh who were giggling watching the video over again. Zim thought it was weird to laugh at this, but he considered Tina's humiliating pummeling was an even trade.

"Ha, ha, that is pretty funny." Zim lied. "Well, at least our business is done being funny. I'm gonna get ready for class now." Dib and Josh looked at Zim as he opened his locker.

"Hmmm…"Josh wondered to himself. "You don't think this is funny do you?"

"No, I think it's funny." Zim lied even more. "I'm just a little sick that's all."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Well I hope feel better, see you later then." Josh said walking away showing some random kid the video. This scared the kid a bit. Then Josh ran off. Dib saw Josh run off and quickly looked over at Zim who continued to get his books out of his locker. Silence. That was a first.

"You really don't think this is funny at all, do you?" Dib asked Zim. Zim turned around to see Dib. "I thought that you would actually consider this a great thing to laugh at since you were the one who came up with the idea of getting even with Tina." Zim looked at Dib weirdly. Dib grinned and continued on.

"What's wrong, Zim, something eating up inside you?" Dib questioned Zim. Zim became annoyed.

"Of course not, Dib-worm," Zim shrieked. "I'm just a little sick, I'll be back to my normal self by lunch time, you'll see."

"I hope." Dib said. "Ha. Ha. For a minute there I thought you were developing a conscience, but that can't be true for you said in your own words, 'The day I have a conscience is the day I give you my ray gun, Dib.'"

"That was such a long time ago, Dib, give it up! I am never giving you my ray gun!" Zim boldly stated to Dib.

"But, you promised that you would if you did!" Dib pointed out excitedly. Zim walked away.

"I'm not the type to keep my promises." Zim said.

"Liar." Dib said catching Zim's lie. Zim turned his head to look at Dib quickly then turned away.

"Like I'm gonna develop a conscience, big whoop de do." Zim said walking away as Dib followed him to their first class. "So what if I do big deal."

"It is a big deal because you argued to me that Irkens don't have a conscience. That they are perfect military killing machines and that's why Irkens are better assassins than humans, remember?"

* * *

Four Years ago

"We are better assassins, Dib monster!" Zim argued at the dinner table across from where Dib was sitting. Gaz was trying to eat her macaroni in peace.

"Na-uh, we have better weapons for this kind of thing and the will to kill for our beliefs, unlike you emotionless Irkens."

"Sure, we maybe emotionless but we use that for our advantage. I studied you humans and realize that you have a conscience. A little mind cricket that is inserted in your brains to tell you the difference from right and wrong, no?"

"Ummm…No, it's just an instinct, not an actual bug." Dib pointed out.

"Silence," Zim shrieked. "The point is that we would be perfect assassins because we will never develop this concept for it does not exist in our society. We just do as we told because it is all right. It is the good for the mission and that is all. We would kill a lot more people this way under this concept unlike the conscience guilt humans have to deal with the thought of taking a another beings life!"

Dib thought about it for a minute. He came up with his rebuttal.

"But, what if an Irken does develop a conscience?" Dib said.

"Huh?" Zim questioned Dib.

"What if developing a conscience mind is all environmental but has nothing to do with the species at all?" Dib said to Zim.

"Hump, I doubt it." Zim disagreed.

"Zim, how long have you been living on this planet?" Dib asked him.

"Four hellish years, why, Dib?" Zim questioned Dib.

"I was thinking that it is possible that you might have developed a conscience mind, to tell you what is right and wrong. Wouldn't that be interesting, and then your whole point would have nothing to stand on."

"Like I would have a conscience! Ha, the day I have a conscience is the day I give you my ray gun, Dib!" Zim said to him.

"Wanna bet on that?" Dib wagered.

"Huh? What kind of bet?" Zim said interested. Gaz became interested in this bet as well.

"If you develop a conscience, I get your ray gun."

"And what do I get when I never do develop a conscience, Dib?"

"You get to have my life." Dib smirked. Gaz mouth dropped open after hearing this and Zim became even more interested in this wager.

"I don't know. It really doesn't sound that interesting to me since we are allies." Zim said playing with his fork placing the spokes on his finger.

"I know you always resented me, you still resent me for the pain I caused you since you landed here. Well, here's your chance. As soon as my life is coming to an end, I give you the permission to kill me then I will truly know that you have won, that you have never got a conscience at all."

"Well, how do you know that I will kill you when your end is near? What makes you think that I will keep my promise and let you suffer instead?" Zim questioned Dib.

"Because it's not your style, Zim, through the years I know you, you have never backed out from a challenge and actually kept your word." Dib pointed out. Zim thought about it and agreed.

"Alright, Dib, you got a deal." Zim decided. "If I develop a conscience, I will give you my ray gun but if I win, your life is mine to take." Zim clenched his right hand in victory and Dib nodded in agreement. Then they went back to eating. Gaz was surprised to what she had witnessed.

"Wait. What were arguing about again?" Dib asked Zim.

"Um, I don't know about how Irkens are better assassins than humans." Zim said.

"Na-uh, we are better!" Dib continued where they had left off. Gaz shook her head.

"Idiots." She muttered and ate her macaroni.

* * *

"Yeah, I won that argument; our weapons are far more superior." Zim said satisfied.

"Well, I can't wait until you do develop a conscience, then I will have your ray gun and my life, space boy." Dib said thrilled.

"Hump, I could care less about taking your Dib-monkey the last thing I want is your sticky hands all over my ray gun!" Zim provoked the bet from a long time ago. "And how would you know if I had a conscience Dib, it's not like I'm gonna tell you, so you lose!"

"Wait a minute, you don't want my life and I can't tell if you had even developed a conscience, why did we even make that bet in the first place?"

"To be honest, I don't know, but you are not having my gun!"

"Oh, you wait and see. I will get proof of your conscience one day and bam! The gun is mine!"

"Too bad that's not going to happen I'm so sorry you are going to waste your time in your meaningless quest, but go ahead have at it."

"Would you two shut up and get in my classroom!" Mr. Holic said looking at the boys arguing outside the classroom.

"I don't care about whose getting the gun or not but the one thing I can't stand is writing those God-awful tardy tickets now get your butts in your seats pronto!" Mr. Holic screamed at the two.

"Yes, Sir!" Dib and Zim shouted and saluted to Mr. Holic. Dib stuck out his tongue at Zim and went into the classroom. Zim followed Dib inside Mr. Holic's class. Mr. Holic closed the door behind him and began today's lessons.

* * *

Third period was over with and it was time for lunch. Zim walked into the hallways still confused by why he didn't find Tina getting beat in up by her sister funny at all. He saw the clip a few times from other students showing him, but not even a chuckle.

'Maybe because it was way too pathetic, that has to be it.' Zim thought while he was opening his locker. 'But whatever, the sooner this whole thing is done with the better, good bye and good ridden.'

He slammed his locker after he retrieved his books, then he entered the cafeteria. Zim looked around the cafeteria to spot his friends. He didn't see them.

'Umm…Where are they? Oh God, I hope Tina isn't crying somewhere." Zim muttered to himself. Then there was a tap at his shoulder. He turned around and saw it was Tina.

"Hey, Zim!" She said all peppy-like.

"Hey," Zim looked at the girl fascinated by her upbeat mood. "How is your humiliation?"

"Yea, it was pretty embarrassing having everyone know that my sister beats me up, but hey, at least I know how you guys felt."

"The important thing is that this is over and we can move on." Zim said to her.

"Yeah, I'm glad." Tina smirked at Zim.

"Where is everybody?" Zim asked her.

"Oh, we are deciding to have lunch outside since it is such a nice day." Tina said. Zim looked out the cafeteria window and noticed how sunny it was outside.

"Yep, that's pretty unusual for a February." Zim pointed out.

"That's why we are having it outside, let's go." Tina said walking outside the cafeteria door. Zim followed the girl.

Jessica, who was sitting at her boyfriend's lunch table, saw Tina and Zim leave the cafeteria and remembered the insult that Zim gave her the other day. It was time for revenge.

"Torque, sweetie," Jessica said ever so nicely to her boyfriend who was eating his lunch with the other teammates from the basketball team.

"Yes, baby," Torque saw that she was displeased about something. "What's wrong, cutie pie?"

"Well, it's just a guy insulted me yesterday." Jessica said to him.

"Sticks and stones, sweetie." Torque said to her without thinking anything of it.

"What?" Jessica said angrily at him. "You don't even care that I was insulted at all!"

"Of course I do," Torque replied trying to fix his mistake. "Now who did it? I will pulverize this low life to nothing after I'm though with him."

"It's Zim." Jessica said pleased by her boyfriend's response. Then Torque look at her like she was crazy.

"No, I can't do it. If I beat him up I will be kicked off the team for sure. He's the only one with the guts to go the principle office and tattle on me." Torque said calming himself down.

"So, you don't care that he embarrassed me in front of my friends." Jessica said to Torque.

"I do, but there is nothing I can do about it. I can't beat him up and even talking with the guy about it would cause some sort of conflict. It's better just to let this one go." Torque reasoned to his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I would blow it off like he was a loser and all but this one really hurt." Jessica said trying to act all sad by the insult getting sympathy from Torque.

"What did he call you?" Torque said curious.

"He called me a bitch and a dog in the same sentence." Jessica said.

"And he called you this out of the blue?" Torque said annoyed at the insult as well.

"Yea, I was walking through the hallways with my friends, he came up to me, called me a bitch-dog, and I was stunned utterly stunned." Jessica lied. This white lie made Torque crush the can of the soda pop he was drinking out of.

"That asshole, screw the team, that boy's dead!" Torque said furiously. "Basketball sucks anyways."

"Hey, basketball doesn't suck, you do. You can't even get through a game without causing a technical foul and you can't even score a point." One of his teammates said.

"That settles it; Zim's a dead man after skool." Torque said contemplating his plan to crush Zim. Jessica was pleased by this.

* * *

Zim followed Tina to the outside garden that everyone was eating at. There he saw Mary, Josh, Brian, Dib and Gretchen eating at the outside table. Josh noticed them coming.

"Glad to see that Tina found Zim." Josh smirked at them.

"Yep, I found him, Kitty Cat!" Tina smiled at him.

"Don't call me that!" Josh said annoyed at her. Tina meowed, sat down next to him and hugged him. Zim looked at them and sat down next to Brian who was eating his lunch. He was surprised he wasn't reading a book.

"So Brian, are you getting a new book soon?" Zim asked him.

"Oh, yeah, but not for a while, I need to rest my eyes." Brian said rubbing his eyelids. "I stood up until three reading the last chapters of my novel. It was really exciting that I had a hard time putting it down, the next thing I knew it was three in the morning and I was like, oh crap."

"Man, you must be really tired." Dib said contributing to the conversation.

"Yeah, I only had about two hours of sleep." Brian said resting his head on the table using his arms as pillows.

"Dang, sleep man, sleep." Zim demanded from him. "We will wake you up when it is time." Zim waited for a response but all he heard was Brian snoring.

"Looks like he is knocked-out cold." Josh said poking at his shoulder from across the table.

"Well," Josh continued on. "What do you guys want to do this weekend, I heard from the news that it is going to be warm. We can do something outside."

"I know, how about we go for a nice walk?" Mary suggested. The group was not so interested by her idea.

"That's way too boring, we need to do something cool! This is the only time it's going to be warm all winter." Josh assumed.

"How about a water gun fight?" Tina beamed with her proposal.

"Yeah, that's more like it!" Josh agreed.

"Uh-oh," Zim mumbled to himself. Dib heard this and remembered Zim was allergic to water.

"What, are we five years old or something, let's do something a little more our age." Dib offered to the group.

"And what do you suggest?" Josh asked him.

"A paintball fight! That is way more exciting than a water fight and less wet." Dib said glancing at Zim.

"Yes, yes I agree!" Zim backed up Dib's proposal.

"We don't have the equipment for that." Josh said.

"No but Gretchen and I do." Dib said looking at his girlfriend for support.

"Yeah, my older brothers and I like the sport so we have lots of marker guns lying around the house along with the paintballs." Gretchen said to Josh.

"Yeah, I even have some markers at home." Dib pointed out.

"What does coloring have to do with paintball? Are we supposed to draw a picture?" Zim asked him.

"That's what you call the gun in paintball, markers." Dib informed his friend.

"Oh, well why don't they just call them gun?" Zim asked him.

"I don't know, the point is that we do have the equipment for it. We even have enough masks for all of us." Dib said.

"Masks?" Zim questioned the reason of wearing masks.

"To protect your eyes, nose and mouth from the paint, it's like a full head helmet." Dib said to Zim.

"Man, I don't want to wear a mask." Zim complained.

"It's either this or water gun fight." Dib threatened Zim.

"Okay, I'm in." Zim finally agreed.

"Me too, sounds like fun."Mary agreed.

"Yeah, I want to shoot some paint!" Tina said shooting around with her invisible gun.

"Cool, fine. What day and time we should all do this." Josh said.

"We can do it at the park; we can play woodsball." Dib suggested. "I don't want to pay someone to fight indoors with other people. We can be outlaws."

"What?" Zim said.

"It means we can play without any referees in a non-established field for free." Dib explained.

"Sounds dangerous," Zim said excited-like

"Not really, but makes the game more fun." Gretchen added to ensure the group. "As long as nobody tries to jump off a tree, it should be safe."

"Okay what day should we do it?" Josh said.

"Saturday would be the best for me." Gretchen said. "I have a thing I need to go on Sunday."

"Yeah, Sundays are the days that I spend experimenting with my Dad." Dib said. "So Saturday is alright for me as well."

"I have to work Saturday, but only until one." Zim said to the group. "The park is not far from where I work so that is okay with me."

"It should be alright for me on Saturday as long as I don't stay too long." Mary agreed.

"Okay then, how long will it take for you to get to the park, Zim?" Josh asked him.

"Well, about ten minutes when walking." Zim answered him.

"Alright, how about we meet each other at the park at one thirty Saturday to play?" Josh arranged for the group.

"Sounds good," Brian uttered out from under his arms. Zim looked at Brain who just woke up from his nap.

"That was quick." Zim responded. "How was your nap?"

"I had a dream that I was playing with a rabbit and next thing I was doing was eating the poor thing. For some reason it tasted like a chocolate." Brian said lifting his arms off the table to reveal a half way eaten candy bar with its wrapper torn up from the bite marks.

"That's why." Zim said pointing to the candy bar. The gang chuckled at what they saw.

* * *

The last bell rang and another skool day was over with or so Zim thought when he entered the hallways. He was going to his locker to get his books when he saw that Torque was leaning on his locker door.

"Umm…Do you mind?" Zim said to Torque.

"Would you mind not calling my girlfriend a bitch, huh, shit head." Torque said pushing Zim a little off balance.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Zim screamed. "You want to get into this now? Look, man. I got to go to work."

"Well, I don't want to be dragged into this too, but you started it." Torque said.

"I did nothing of the sort; Jessica walked up to Mary and pushed her books out of her hands. What was I suppose to do, not say anything." Zim defended his reason.

"What, you mean you didn't call her that just because you felt like it?" Torque asked him confused.

"Now why would I do that?" Zim questioned him.

"Because you're a jerk." Torque answered him.

"Okay, I maybe a jerk but I wouldn't do something that stupid without a reason anyways." Zim admitted.

"Well, I'm still going to beat you up because you insulted my girlfriend." Torque said. Then he charged straight at Zim getting ready to punch with his right arm. Zim ducked under Torque, grabbed his right arm and flipped Torque's body with all his might onto the skool's hard floor. Torque landed on his back and groaned from the force of the flip.

"Sorry, but I can't afford to miss my bus. Let's settle this later." Zim said fixing his hair. He quickly opened his locker, grabbed his books and closed the door. Zim ran around Torque who was still lying on the floor.

* * *

The rest of the week went as smoothly as any regular Thursday or Friday. Everyone was done making fun of Dib and Zim being adopted brothers and really didn't care much about it anymore. Tina's funny embarrassing video went belly flop and didn't turn into the next internet video sensation as Josh thought it would be but he got over it. Tina was glad that it didn't turn into the next sensation because her classmates gave her a hard time enough since she did steal the doll from her sister. They thought she deserved it. Dib and Gretchen were called into the office Thursday morning because some of the parents complaining about them punching their kids last Tuesday. They told Dib and Gretchen not to do it again and gave them a whole week of detention. Gretchen's Orchestra teacher was not pleased by this. Finally, Zim actually settle things with Torque Thursday afternoon. Zim explained the whole story after Torque jumped him. Torque didn't believe him until Zim brought Mary to explain what has happened. Torque believed them and felt betrayed by what his girlfriend, Jessica, had told him. Torque finally confronted Jessica with this; they got into an argument and broke up. Now after all that skool drama it was finally Saturday, time for them to relax, or so they thought until…

"How come Gaz is here?" Zim asked Dib looking at her like she was going to destroy them and she was. Gaz was decked in paintball armor, ready for a fight. She had her marker rifle loaded and lots of ammo. Brian, Tina, Josh and Mary was impressed on how she prepared herself that it made them look like amateurs which they were since they were wearing some old, out of date clothes that they would never wear again. Brian was wearing jeans tore with lots of holes from the knees with an old tan paint shirt on. Tina was wearing a really bright pink sweater with a white cat head on it with bleached up black jeans. Josh was wearing a sweater with a cartoon train on it with ugly gray pants on and Mary was wearing an old dusty light blue T-shirt with black pants that had bleached brown spots on only one of the legs due to an accidental spill. Among them Dib and Gretchen had paintball gear on that was similar to Gaz's. They both had paddling on the chest, knees and elbows with cameo suits on. Zim was just wearing his usual dark red T-shirt and black slacks. He didn't care; he had plenty of similar shirts and pants at home.

"Gaz found out we were playing paintball and wanted to join us. She really likes paintball." Dib explained.

"Now who's going to be my next target, I wonder." Gaz muttered to herself looking at the group members one by one. Zim took Dib aside to talk with him alone.

"You could have said no. With her around, she's going to kill us all. She alone is scary enough, but her with a gun, I don't want to imagine it." Zim said terrified.

"Don't worry; she is well aware of the rules of the game and not going to do something violent. Besides, my Dad wanted me to bring her along as a bonding thing since we rarely have anything in common."

"Oh, alright but I am totally going to be on guard." Zim said.

"That's what paintball is all about, my friend." Dib said as both Dib and Zim returned to the group.

"Now how are we going to play this?" Gaz said eagerly.

"How about we play elimination?" Gretchen suggested. "We can all form teams and fight each other."

"Sounds good, how are we going to split it up?" Gaz asked Gretchen.

"I know," Josh interrupted. "Boys versus Girls!"

"What?" Tina said annoyed. "That's got to be the oldest team roster in the book."

"What's the matter, Tina you afraid that the boys are going paint you up a new wall?" Josh challenged her. Dib, Zim and Brian were confused by Josh's threat.

"What?" Tina said confused as well. "That doesn't make any sense let's try to make a-"

Tina was interrupted by Gaz who place her hand up in Tina's face to stop her from speaking.

"We will take your challenge and I will be the leader of my group." Gaz said to Josh.

"Fine we will be our own group and I elect Dib to be our leader." Josh replied back.

"Me?" Dib said surprised.

"Yeah, you're the only one that is experienced in this game." Josh reasoned to him.

"It's true." Zim agreed while Brian nodded.

"Okay, then I will be the leader." Dib proudly accepted his new title.

"Alright, so elimination, the last person of the team standing is the winners." Gretchen announced. "Let's get our markers ready and masks on."

Gretchen handed the rest of the players their marker rifles, the boys get red paintballs while the girls got blue. She also handed out the masks for them to wear. They separated into two groups; the boys went to the right of the forest while the girls took the left. Gaz travelled her group deep into the forest already coming up with a plan. She made certain none of the boys were following.

"Okay, this is what we are going to do." Gaz said to them. They all listen carefully. "We are going to surprise attack the boys."

"How are we going to do that?" Tina said curiously.

"We are going to place a tracking device on one of our persons and lead us to their base." Gaz explained holding a small black piece of plastic in her hand. It looked like a regular black cat head button.

"So who has more experience with holding a gun?" Gaz said looking at Mary and Tina. "I know Gretchen got good experience, what can you guys do?"

"Well, I had lots of practice with guns playing those video games at the arcades with Josh." Tina explained her experience.

"I never held a gun before since today." Mary said shyly. Gaz knew what to do.

"You are going to be our victim." Gaz pointed her out to the group. "I will follow right behind you to make sure they take the bait. Gretchen, Tina, you guys stay here until I retrieve you, understand?"

"Sure, whatever you say, ma'am." Gretchen saluted.

"This is going to be fun!" Tina squealed out of excitement.

"Why do I have to be the victim?" Mary said as Gaz was already putting the button on her right sleeve shirt.

"Because you are the most venerable looking besides all the noobies are sacrificed for the greater good. Consider this a great honor." Gaz smiled at her.

"I feel like I'm being fed to the wolves." Mary commented.

"That's the spirit! Let's go!" Gaz said pushing her along.

Meanwhile at the other side of the forest, Dib and Zim made camp at the big rock formation in the forest while Josh and Brian went exploring.

"Knowing my sister, she's probably going to plan an ambush, its best that we split the team." Dib said to Zim who was getting bored of the game already.

"Yeah, but it would be more fun if we just screw the strategies and shoot the girls already."

"I will not hear such rash bold statements on my watch, you stay where you are. You got that soldier?" Dib said critically. Zim rolled his eyes.

"You take this game way to seriously." Zim said walking off. Zim wondered a little away from Dib hoping to shoot someone until he noticed that Brian and Josh returned with Mary captured.

'That was quick.' Zim thought to himself and returned to camp. Josh and Brian followed pointing their guns to the back of Mary.

"We got ourselves a prisoner." Josh said proudly.

"We didn't agree on taking prisoners." Dib questioned his teammates.

"Well, we thought it would be lots of fun making this a torture kind of game. Take one girl at a time and shoot them." Josh said evilly at Mary who was surprised by his twisted mind.

"What," Mary protested. "That's not what the game is about. I thought that this was a one hit kind of game."

"It is in established field but in outlaw woodsball, we can do whatever we want." Dib reasoned to them. "Good idea Josh, let's torture her!"

"Yeah, it will be lots of fun, and then let's get the rest of the girls." Josh said to Dib.

"Come on guys, wait a minute, can't you guys shoot me and get it over with." Mary tried reasoning to them but they were already making plans. Brian was still pointing the gun to her back while listening to the boys' plans.

"First we can shoot both her arms off and then the chest." Dib suggested.

"No we shoot her foot off." Josh suggested to Dib.

"That's not a good torture idea. That would just ruin her shoes. I don't want to ruin her shoes." Dib said to Josh. Zim looked at Mary who looked like she was getting ready for the worst paint job of her life until Zim thought up a solution.

"Allow me the honor of torturing her." Zim butted in. "I see lots of ways people torture themselves and believe me they are very dirty."

This peaked Josh and Dib's interest.

"Really?" Josh said.

"Oh yeah, some stuff that will blow your mind that it will amaze you!" Zim screamed.

"Okay, let's see it!" Josh said to Zim. Dib nodded in agreement and looked at their victim, Mary.

"Prepare yourself Mary-Moo-Cow for the most painful experience in your life, you will be begging for your death after I am through with you!" Zim said pointing the gun at her head. Mary terrified closed her eyes and felt a thud to her chest. She opened her eyes and saw her shirt was covered with one red paintball.

"Oh, look, my bad guys," Zim acted all innocently. "I accidently aimed for her chest, which means she is dead right?"

"No kidding!" Dib said displeased.

"Why did you do that?" Josh said.

"I guess I was out of practice, I don't know what to tell you guys, but sorry." Zim said.

"Aw, man, now we have to find another girl to torture." Josh said.

"Wait guys," Brian finally said. "Something doesn't add up right. When we found Mary, she didn't have her marker on her."

"I accidently lost it, that's why." Mary said trying to buy some time for the girl's ambush.

"You lost my gun!" Dib said displeased. "How can you lose a gun?"

"I don't know, I think I might have left it with Gaz." Mary said.

"Great, now my sister is twice as powerful!" Dib said.

"You got that right!"

Dib turned around and saw Gaz charging through the woods. She shot him right in the chest. Josh surprised by the ambushed turned to shoot Gaz, but she ducked while Gretchen shot Josh in the chest as well. Brian stood to watch this and felt a rifle barrel to his back and was shot by Tina who was hiding in the bushes. Zim ran into the woods thinking up a plan.

"Damn, that was smart of them; they had to have followed Mary who got captured to bring them to our base, clever!" Zim said pleased and turned around quickly. Then he hid himself behind a tree. Gretchen and Tina came to his direction.

"Heh, heh that was so exciting! Just one boy left!" Tina giggled.

"Yeah, can't wait to find Zim, he ran off pretty fast!" Gretchen said impressed.

"I know he must be really good at sports." Tina agreed.

"Nope!" Zim peeped and shot Tina in the chest with his response.

"Hey!" Tina yelped. Gretchen hid herself behind a tree and saw where Zim was. Gretchen got ready to aim but when she looked over her shoulder, she saw that Zim wasn't there at the tree. Gretchen moved to the right of the tree and Zim was there. He shot her point blank to her side.

"Damn, your way to good!" Gretchen admitted defeat and joined the rest of the marked up people. Now there was only Gaz and Zim left to face off. Zim looked all around him pointing his gun up in the air.

"Give it up, little Gaz, I already killed all your allies it's a matter of time before you join your comrades in bitter defeat. Just face it, I'm way too good for this game and nothing will stop me from destroying you, nothing! Maw ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Zim boosted his laughter through the woods. Then he felt a thump to his chest and saw a blue paintball stain on his shirt.

"Zim, you have always had such a big mouth."

Zim turned in the direction he was hit to see Gaz was sitting up in a tree, and then she climbed down to declare her victory pose.

"Great game, guys!" Tina peeped. "That was the most fun I had in a long time."

"I barely had any fun," Mary disagreed. "I was almost tortured."

"Yep," Zim said. "Lucky for you I had terrible aim."

"Terrible aim," Tina protested. "You shot me perfectly!"

"Only because of that terrible sweater you were wearing. Bright pink was not good camouflage for this game." Zim pointed to her sweater.

"Oh, shut up!" Tina snapped at him.

"Now what, want to start the game over again?" Gretchen said excitedly.

"Sorry, I can't." Mary said to the group. "I promise that I would help out today at the orphanage later and it starting to get at that time."

"Too bad. Now we have to figure out a way to separate our groups." Dib said trying to think of a way to divide a good roster for the next game.

"I'm so sorry, guys." Mary said again taking off her mask. She began to try to fix her frizzy red hair by bringing a hair brush out of her backpack.

"It's okay, so which orphanage do you volunteer at?" Gretchen asked curiously.

"It's the one on 206th street it's not that far from here." Mary said brushing her hair.

"Oh, I know the place, its right across from the Medical Convenience Store, right? Dib and I volunteered there a long time ago, but I blew up the diaper machine, it was pretty disgusting, right Dib?" Zim smirked at him.

"Shut up!" Dib said annoyed remembering him having to change all those babies. Mary looked at them weirdly.

"Yep, that's the place. See you guys later." Mary handing the mask to Gretchen and ran off.

"Bye bye!" Tina said and waved at her.

"Okay, I got it!" Dib said finally figuring out a new team. "We have Zim, Josh and I on one team and Brian on your guy's team?"

"Sounds fair enough." Gaz agreed to the terms and changed the colors of the paintballs. Yellow for Gaz's team and green for Dib's team. They ran opposite each other to figure out their next stage of attack.

"How about we ambush them like they did us?" Josh suggested.

"Way to obvious, we need a new unique plan." Dib said to him. Then a bunch of yellow paintballs started flying at them. Josh was hit four times in the chest and was thrown off his feet from the force.

"Oh, crap!" Dib cried out staying low to the ground. "Gaz must have brought out the machine marker. We have to get out of here."

"Then what do we do?" Zim questioned Dib who was also on the ground.

"We wait until they have to load again, then we get up and move on the count of three." Dib said to Zim. Zim nodded. They waited until all of the yellow paintball stopped flying through the air.

"Three!" Dib yelled and they both got on their feet and started running. Then another row of yellow paintballs came their way. Dib ducked his head and kept on running but Zim got hit in the head causing his mask to fly off his head, wig and all to expose his two black antennas. Dib turned around and saw Zim fall to the ground head first. Dib ran back to help him out.

"Zim," Dib said astonished to his antennas exposure. "You could have at least clipped them to your wig."

"Well, since we were wearing masks I thought I didn't need to." Zim said trying to push himself off the ground.

"Hurry up and get your mask," Dib said frantically. "They are coming closer, if those three find out you are from another planet, you're screwed!"

"Don't you think I already know that?" Zim said panicking to pick up his mask. He was having a hard time trying to find his wig in it and Dib knew it.

"Go! Run away and fix your head. I will hold them off!" Dib decided. Zim nodded and ran off.

Zim ran as fast as he can to the wooded area to fix his head. Zim found his hair piece in the mask and placed it back on his head, and then he put his mask back on. Zim went back where he left Dib but saw he wasn't there anymore. Zim was about to run off to find Dib until he was hit four times with a hard barrage of paintballs and fell on his back. It was over, he was caught. Zim got up and saw the Brian was holding the machine paintball marker in his arms. Tina, Gretchen and Gaz smiled at him.

"Looks like you got egged!" Brian said while Tina and Gaz smirked.

"Oh, by the way, we made a bet!" Gaz said. "Who ever got paintballed last had to take the bus home. Hurry, get in the car!"

"What?" Zim said surprised as his friends hurry to get into Prof. Membrane's car to take them all home. Everyone was in the car excepted for Zim. They were no more seats left.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Zim protested. "We never agreed to that."

"We just did now!" Gaz said evilly. "Looks like your busing it."

"Damn!" Zim snapped.

"Well, don't feel bad." Prof. Membrane said to Zim in the driver's seat. "I'm sure you can use your bus pass to get home okay, right?"

"Oh, yeah, right, of course!" Zim lied knowing very well that he lost it five days ago. Prof. Membrane popped the trunk so he can put his paintball gear in and closed it. He actually thought of going in the trunk. "Don't worry I can just catch the bus with my bus card!"

"Okay, then see you later." Prof. Membrane said and drove away with his friends in the car. Zim dug threw his pockets to find his transfer. It was already four o'clock. His transfer expired at three.

"Crap, looks like I'm gonna need money." Zim said pulling out his wallet. He noticed how light it felt and opened it. There was no money in it, just a little note. It Read:

Dear, Master

Today Minimoose and me want to play laser tag so we borrowed some moneys from you. We are going to have lots of fun with lasers! I like lasers and muffins too.

P.S. I like cupcakes too, but don't tell the muffins that!

Love Gir! WHoooa hhoooo!

"Borrowed some?" Zim questioned the note. "He took the whole thing! How am I going to go home!" Zim messed through his fake hair strands with frustration until he came up with an idea.

"Of course, I'll bug Mary about it!" Zim peeped out. "She had to have some money I can borrow and she is so nearby it won't be that long of a walk. Maybe they will feel sorry for me and give me a ride that would be okay too."

Zim acted out on his plan and went to 206th street. He recognized the old gothic designed building and went through the gate. He knocked on the door. A very round nun opened the door. She looked at Zim strangely. Zim just smiled.

"Can I help you?" The nun questioned the weird green boy covered in blue and yellow paint blotches.

"Yes, I was wondering if Mary is here, I'm one of her friends, Zim." Zim politely introduced himself to the lady.

"Hold on one second." The nun said and closed the door. He waited a few minutes until the door finally opened. He saw Mary come out in her usual marrow sweater and long black skirt. It was obvious she was more prepared clothes wise than he was. He knew he should have brought an extra set of clothes.

"Zim, hey, what's up?" Mary said surprised to see him. "How did the paintball game go after I left?"

"Well, you can see for yourself." Zim said pointing to his outfit covered in yellow blotches. Mary smirked at him.

"Not well for you, huh?" Mary said trying to hold herself from laughing.

"Yeah, and you're not going to believe this but they had the nerve to ditch me and I have no money to catch the bus. Gir took it all to play laser tag with Minimoose leaving me this note." Zim said handing her the note. Her read it and was confused.

"How are you going to tell the cupcakes that Gir likes muffins?" Mary questioned Zim.

"Have no idea." Zim shook his head. "May I please borrow some bus fare from you; I promise I'll pay you back."

"You don't need to pay me back; I owe you the way you saved me from being tortured from Dib and Josh." Mary said pulling out a dollar bill from her pocket.

"Oh, that." Zim said acting like it was no big deal. "Forget about it, if I didn't do something you would have been covered in paint too. And talk about in pain, those capsules on impact hurt. And I don't want you to get hurt, not that it would hurt you that much but, you know."

Zim stopped himself from speaking and blushed a bit. He felt embarrassed by what he said but Mary smiled at him.

"Well, I really appreciate it. Thank you." Mary said handing him the dollar bill.

"No problem, Mary-Moo-Cow, see ya!" Zim turned around and Mary saw a big yellow stain on the back of Zim's neck.

"Wait, Zim," Mary said making Zim turn back around. "You got some paint on the back of your neck, here let me get you a wet towel so you can clean yourself up."

Mary was about to enter the building until Zim stopped her by placing his hand on her arm.

"You really don't have to do that because you see, I'm kind of allergic to water. Just one drop and it makes my skin sting and burn up." Zim said surprised that he actually told her that.

"Oh, really, I had no idea." Mary responded.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad. I'm pretty much allergic to anything, including raw meat." Zim continued on.

"That must be difficult for you, are you not allergic to anything?" Mary questioned him.

"Well, I can eat fish, bread, rice, juice and vegetables okay, anything else raises a question mark." Zim admitted. "If I drink plain water, it burns my tongue."

Mary was very surprised by this and Zim saw her reaction.

"No, no don't worry. It's not like I'm dying or complaining at all. Sorry, if I got a little too personal about myself."

"No, it's okay, actually. I'm kind of glad you are telling me this, I was wondering about your diet for a while but I was afraid to ask that I would offend you. At least I can bring over some snacks that you would actually enjoy at our next tutoring session. I guess you are allergic to chips since you let Gir eat them?"

"No I'm not. In fact, I like chips, but the way Gir eats that bag, I'm afraid I never see my hand again." Zim said and Mary smirked.

"Yeah, I would say that Gir's mouth is the danger zone!" Mary commented. Zim chuckled.

"Ah, ha,ha,ha,ha, yeah, I would, well, thanks again for the fare, see you later." Zim said waving at her.

"Bye, then." Mary said waving back and entered the orphanage. Zim pleased with the money he had in his hand and the girl that gave it to him. "That had to be the best part of my day."


	15. Mary's Dad is Scary!

Author note: Hey how you all doing? Here's another exciting chapter of IAWLYROII! Guess how many times I used the word "weird" and any other form of the word in this story. No, really, guess. I would really want to know!

* * *

It A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 15: Mary's Dad is Scary!

Zim got on his bus okay and went home as soon as possible. When he opened the door he saw Gir and Minimoose playing with two new laser tag guns. Gir explained that they have bought them from the game center for sixty bucks. Zim growled at them and screamed with all his might on how angry he was at them spending all his sixty dollars on those stupid toys. Gir and Minimoose stared terrified by the vain sticking out of Zim's head and ran out the back door. Zim ran after them and chased them down in the yard explaining that was this week's food budget.

"How are we going to eat laser guns, huh?" Zim shrieked chasing after Gir.

"Cook them in boiling water?" Gir shrieked back.

"Nu-uh, we are returning these guns in the morning!" Zim said finally catching up to Gir.

"We can't!" Gir said to him as Zim picked Gir up by his scruff.

"Why not?" Zim demanded.

"It is not refundable! They were going out of business and they were selling them for thirty bucks each." Gir told his master.

"That is such a rip off!" Zim said furiously. "And you thought this was the best price for these laser guns? Here, let me have a look at them."

Gir handed his the gun and Zim snatched it out of his hands.

"Why, this design is very similar to the ones that they sell at my work! This toy is only worth ten dollars! You guys got scammed which means I got scammed!" Zim said furiously.

"What's scammed?" Gir asked while Minimoose wondered as well.

"Scammed means that you buy something that you thought was a good deal but really wasn't because the person was giving you a cheap product like this toy. You could have bought six of these toys at my store instead of two. Don't you see?" Zim explained to them. They looked at their guns and began to scream.

"We got scammed! We got scammed!" Gir kept on squealing while Minimoose flew around squeaking in frustration. Zim smacked his forehead not knowing how to solve his problem. He went into the kitchen, sat down and placed his head on his table.

"That was this week's food budget and now I have to wait till Friday to get my paycheck to pay for all the food." Zim muttered to himself. Zim stood up and looked around his kitchen. He went through the cupboards and saw a few items that were good. A box of waffle mix, cans of soup and oatmeal. Then he looked in the fridge and saw a couple of juice boxes, some eggs and a bag of lettuce. No beer.

"Perfect, and just when I really needed one." Zim slammed the door. He looked outside and saw that those two were still screaming their heads off to the point that the neighbors were staring at them out of their windows.

"Would you guys shut your God damn dogs up?" A man screamed from his two story window.

"Gir! Minimoose!" Zim shrieked. "Come here, now!"

Gir and Minimoose heard his demand, quickly went inside and Zim closed the door. Zim saw that his robots were in tears.

"Look, I know you guys are upset and so am I. There is a reason why I give you guys a certain allowance. It's not that I don't trust you; it's those kinds of people I don't trust. So next time, ask before you go borrow money, okay?" Zim said trying to get them to understand. Gir and Minimoose nodded.

"Now, for you guys' punishment! No snacking until Friday afternoon!" Zim decided.

"What?" Gir said confused. "But master, we will starve!"

"No you won't, you guys don't have stomachs, remember?" Zim said to them. "You just have to resist the urge to snack, and that means having to take all the good things out of the kitchen."

Zim went through his house and collected all the chips, soda pops, candy and along with all the rest of the food in the cabinets and locked it in his closet. He knew this amount of food would last him a week. Gir and Minimoose looked at him like he ripped their hearts out of their bodies and was eaten it in front of them.

"Hey, this is a decent punishment, maybe next time you will think twice before taking my money and spending it so carelessly." Zim said plopping himself on his bed.

"Do you hate us?" Gir said as they looked at Zim, who was facing the wall.

"No, I'm just mad at you guys. Give me time to cool and I will forgive you two. Now, go play with your guns." Zim waved them off. Gir and Minimoose looked at each other and started playing with their guns again, they ran downstairs and Zim sighed.

"Typical," Zim said. "Now I have to find a way to pay my bus fare! Damn it!"

Zim scurried through his room looking for any change he can use for the bus. He dug through his all his pants pockets until he found a glitter of hope in a form of a small rectangular card.

"My bus-pass!" Zim shirked happily. "It was in my back pocket this whole time? Awesome!"

Zim placed his bus card in the back into his wallet. He noticed on how bare his wallet was and whined.

"My sixty dollars, gone…" Zim whined then closed his wallet up so he wouldn't stare at anymore. He plopped himself on his bed and looked around his room. He saw how his pants and shirts were all over the floor and sighed.

"Screw it. I'm going to bed!" Zim said and closed his eyes.

That Sunday, Zim sat at home watching T.V. most of the day. He wanted to stay home all day but he couldn't because he didn't want to listen to Gir and Minimoose telling him how hungry they were. Zim had to tell them several times that they have no stomachs so they never felt hungry. Gir and Minimoose didn't believe him and kept pestering him about it. Zim decided to take a little walk to get away from those two for a while. An hour later, Zim came back and saw that they were making waffles. Zim became mad and asked them how they got into the closet. Gir said Minimoose broke the lock. Zim puzzled by this went upstairs to see the damage. The lock was snapped in half. Zim gave up on them and decided to do his homework instead.

* * *

"And that's what happened." Zim explained to Dib. Dib just laughed.

"I can't believe that Minimoose totaled that lock." Dib said opening his locker collecting his books for the rest of Monday's afternoon classes.

"Yeah, I know, so much for my plan for saving rest of the food until Friday, by the way those two eat, I gonna out of food by tomorrow!" Zim shrieked holding out his lunch bag. "Just look at my lunch, I only got a freakin' banana in here! A banana, oh and a juice box!"

"Look at the bright side, Zim; at least your robots don't eat healthy." Dib joked. Zim just glared at him.

"Agh, this is going to be one hell of a week." Zim marched into the cafeteria. Dib tagged along. They saw Gretchen, Josh, Brian was sitting at the table while Tina and Mary was leaning on it. Zim saw they were talking about something. Zim and Dib went up to the table. Tina and Mary stopped talking and looked at Zim. Mary blush a little and looked away. Zim looked away from her and saw that everyone at the table was smiling at him. Zim and Dib were very confused by their smiling.

"What?" Zim asked awkwardly. "Is my zipper down?"

"No, but Mary wants to ask you something!" Tina said evilly, took Mary's arm and pulled her in front of Zim. This got his attention. He looked down at the flustered red head.

"Umm…This is kind of embarrassing, but," Mary said trying to find the right words to say to him.

"Yes…" Zim peeped nervously as well.

"Ummm…My Dad wants to know if you would like to join us for dinner this week?" Mary finally blurted out.

"Huh?" Zim said confused by what she asked. Mary stopped blushing.

"I know. My Dad just wants to meet you, since I was spending a lot of time at your house tutoring you. I tell him that you're a good guy, but he wants to make sure."

"What is this?" Zim asked her.

"An interrogation dinner!" Josh stepped in answering his question. "Don't worry, Zim; Brian and I had to do it if we wanted to be friends with Mary."

"Really?" Zim said surprised.

"No, but something like that. We just came to Mary's house one day for an afternoon snack. Then Mary's Dad came into the kitchen and asked us a series of questions. They weren't that difficult." Josh said assuring Zim.

"Ah, this is so embarrassing." Mary said out loud blushing again.

"So, do I really have to do it?" Zim asked Mary.

"Only if you want me to continue tutoring you. Otherwise, I can't even hang out with you."

"This is crazy!" Zim said finally grasping the situation. "Why is he doing this?"

"Well, putting it in my Dad's words, he wants to know that I'm not tutoring a weirdo." Mary said.

"Too late." Dib said laughing. "I can see it now! Just one look at Zim and his gonna be slamming that door right in your face."

"That's not funny, Dib!" Zim said angrily. "I am not a weirdo; at least I don't go around and hide dirty magazines at my best friend's house like some people I know!"

"You're right!" Dib said understanding Zim's message. "I'm sorry, but this is way too funny. No offense Zim, but you're the weirdest person in the bunch, no. You're like the weirdest person at skool."

"Even weirder than the boy that eats the fliers off the bulletin board?" Zim questioned Dib. Josh fiddled on his gossip bug channel to find his answer.

"Yes, you are weirder than him, surprisingly. You beat him by one point." Josh said showing Zim his recent weird poll he just put up. "Let's see here, the kids say that you are annoying, scream a lot, get into fights, threaten anyone who offends you, allergic to anything that you touch including chalk, and the fact that they think you are ugly."

"Hey!" Zim said. "I have a really rare skin condition! That's not fair to call me ugly like that!"

"Ah, the gossip world is not always fair." Josh stated.

"So you are telling me that if I go to this dinner that I am doomed to fail." Zim said discouraged.

"To be perfectly honest, maybe." Josh said. "If you don't act like yourself, you might win."

"Well, I might as well just turn the dinner down because I don't have a chance. It was nice being tutored by you, good bye." Zim said turning away defeated and ran off.

"Wait, Zim." Mary said chasing after him.

"Nice one, Josh." Dib sneered to Josh.

"Hey, what about you? You started this mess; I was trying to help him." Josh replied.

"By telling him that the only way he would make it is to not be himself?" Dib questioned him.

"What, the guy wanted to know the truth, so I told him. Besides we have to pretend to be nice little boys and girls in front of parents. Am I right?" Josh replied looking at Dib and Gretchen knowing this was true.

"Yea, but you didn't have to be so mean about it." Gretchen rebuttal.

* * *

Mary was still chasing after Zim through the hallways trying to catch up to him. Zim zoomed outside the building and lean up against it. He sat down trying to catch his breath. Mary darted out the door.

"Zim! Zim!" Mary called out. "Where are you?"

Zim didn't answer and hoped that she didn't find him. Mary walked around the building and saw that he was sitting there.

"Hey, Zim. Can I sit down?" Mary asked him.

"If you want to." Zim said coldly. "I won't stop you."

Mary sat down next to him leaning her back against the wall. Zim didn't look at her at all.

"I know what my Dad is doing is weird, but he just wants to meet you. I told him all about your party, Gir and Minimoose, and the fact that they made you eat that greased up bacon- waffle."

"Did you tell him I threw up a lot?" Zim finally said.

"I only told him you threw up once. He doesn't need to know it lasted for 30 minutes." Mary said. "The point is that my Dad finds you hilarious. That's why I was able to come over to your house at all last week. He wouldn't want to meet you if I didn't tell him what an amazing guy you are. He just wants to see that for himself."

"I see, he doesn't think I'm a weirdo?" Zim asked her.

"He kind of does but in a good way, not like a pervert. I think he just wants to see if you are a pervert."

"Harsh, the only pervert around here is Dib. I guess we shouldn't have your Dad come near him. He could probably smell it on him."

"Yeah, you're right. And by the way, my Dad thought it was cool the way you burned his porn."

"Do you tell your Dad everything?" Zim questioned her reasoning.

"Yeah, I do." Mary smiled to Zim. "Except the whole umm…woman monthly visitor. I don't think my Dad wants to know about that, but he already given me 'the talk' so that's okay."

"What's 'the talk'?" Zim asked her curiously. Mary blushed a bit.

"You know the talk about sex?" Mary said bluntly.

"Oh, right." Zim said getting what she meant. "Yeah, Prof. Membrane already given me that."

* * *

"Zim, it comes a time in a young boy's life when he finally turns into a man. That he has certain changes to his body and he feels like he has these urges that can't be really explained, but since you are an alien, I really wouldn't know how to help you with that. Sorry, but you are on your own on this one."

* * *

"Yeah, that sure was helpful." Zim said sarcastically. Mary looked at him strangely at his comment.

"I don't have to work tomorrow, that's when I am free for dinner other than that I work late." Zim said to Mary.

"Okay, I'll let my Dad know you are coming over. Thanks for doing this Zim; I know this a pain in the butt."

"Don't worry about it. If I was a Dad, I wouldn't want my daughter hanging out with a pervert either. Then again picturing me as a father is totally out of the question but I kind of understand. Either way, if I don't, I would lose my tutor and I was just starting to figure out the ways of math."

"Great, we can meet after skool and take the bus together to my house. I can tutor you after dinner, so don't forget to bring you books." Mary said cheerfully and stood up. Zim stood up as well.

"Let's go meet up with the others and finish our lunch, okay?" Mary said walking away.

"Wait," Zim said stopping her. Mary turned around to face him. "Do you think I'm ugly?" Mary looked up at him into his eyes and said.

"No, I don't."

Zim didn't say anything. He felt a strange feeling come over him and smiled. Mary smiled back at him and they walked up to the building. Zim held the door for Mary to enter. Mary thanked him.

* * *

Later that day, Zim came home after work wondering if there was anything for him to eat in his house. He looked into the closet where he stored his food and saw that the only thing that Gir and Minimoose didn't touch was the oatmeal. Zim sighed then looked at his robots.

"Thanks to you guys, I'm gonna starve!" Zim screamed at them.

"Oh, don't feel sad, master. You can play with Minimoose's laser gun to make it all better."

"Nyaa!" Minimoose disagreed and made his laser gun float off Zim's desk. Minimoose hovered away with the gun. Zim shook his head and went on his bed.

"Good thing I don't have math homework tonight. Though I wouldn't mind it if I was working on it with Mary… Wait, what am I saying? No homework is good!"

Then the phone on Zim's dresser rang and Zim picked it up to answer.

"Hey, this is Zim! Who is this?" Zim said to the stranger.

"Hey, it's me, Dib, listen, my Dad went and got take out from Sushi World. Would you like to join us?" Dib said. He waited for a response but got no answer, just Zim clicking the phone off. Dib hung up also.

"Well," Prof. Membrane said to Dib. "Is he coming over?"

"Yep." Dib said.

"Good, I'll go set him a place at the table." Prof. Membrane said cheerfully and entered the kitchen. A few minutes later, the door bell rang; Dib opened the door and saw it was Zim.

"Hello, Zim," Dib looking at him. Zim was covered in sweat. "Geez, Zim, you could have walked here, we weren't going to invite you over and eat all the food before you get here."

"I know that." Zim wheezed. "It's just I don't want them to know and follow me. They would eat it before I get here."

"Man, we wouldn't even let that slide.' Dib laughed. "Come on in." Zim entered the house and joined Prof. Membrane and Gaz at the table. Zim saw the platter of sushi on the table and smiled.

"Thanks for having me over!" Zim said gratefully to Prof. Membrane.

"No problem, Zim. Now help yourself to the delicious feast!" Prof. Membrane stood up and shouted.

"Don't mind if I do!" Zim said cheerfully. Zim picked up his plate, picked up his choke sticks and started picking ten rolls of sushi off the platter. He sat down and started eating them one by one without stopping.

"Man, slow down, you gonna choke!" Dib said to Zim.

"He's better off choking if he's gonna steal all the cucumber rolls." Gaz said.

"Oh, sorry," Zim stopped himself and took the time to eat his rolls. "All I had today was an egg and a banana." Prof. Membrane was shocked to hear this.

"Zim, I know you're diet is weird but don't eat like that. It's not good for you!" Prof. Membrane said concerned for Zim's well being.

"No, it not like that, you see. Gir and Minimoose took my grocery money and spent it on laser tag guns." Zim filled Prof. Membrane in.

"What? Do you even have enough food to last you until your next pay check?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"To be honest with you, no I don't." Zim said. "They pretty much ate it up when I got home earlier."

"No fake-son of mine is going to starve to death; you are going home with some food!" Prof. Membrane said gathering up the cans of food for Zim to have.

"Umm…I really appreciate this, but can't I just eat here for the week? If I bring any food home, they would just eat it up before morning." Zim said being honest with him.

"You're right, they probably eat it all. How come your robots eat so much even though they have no stomachs?" Prof. Membrane asked him.

"I have been trying to figure that out myself, Sir." Zim said to him.

"So, then I guess you are going to be joining us for dinner tomorrow night?" Prof. Membrane asked Zim.

"No, actually Mary asked me to spend dinner with her family." Zim answered him.

"Yeah, Mary's Dad wants to meet Zim to see if he's a weirdo." Dib pointed out to his Dad.

"A weirdo? Now, you wouldn't have any problems with that. You're actually the nicest alien I know; in fact, you are the only alien I know."

"Thank you, but everyone at skool thinks I'm a weirdo due to Josh's info on his website." Zim said a little down by it. "They said that I was annoying, loud and because I was ugly that made me weird."

"No, that's not fair, you may be a hideously green creature from the stars, but that's not your fault. You were just born that way."

"Gee, thanks for making me feel better," Zim said sarcastically.

"No problem, just ignore them and you'll be fine." Prof. Membrane advised Zim not knowing his remark was sarcastic.

"I know, it's all stupid. I'm gonna try not let it bother me, after all, I am an alien pretending to be human so of course I'm gonna be weird." Zim said picking up another sushi roll and placing it in his mouth.

"Man, I was surprised that you didn't clobber Josh or even I after you got back. Actually, you looked a little happy. Tell me, did something happen between you two?" Dib smirked at him.

"No, nothing at all." Zim said to him.

"Come on, something had to happen if you are agreeing to go to her house to be grilled by her father." Dib smirked trying to get Zim to open up to him.

"I'm only going to her house because if I don't, I won't be tutored by her anymore, that's all." Zim said to Dib making him quit asking questions.

"Father, huh? What's his name?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Prof. Weylin." Zim answered him.

"Prof. Weylin! Why, he's my mathematician who works at my lab. Using math, he is able to fix all our inventions, our best chemical solutions and statistically figure out the sales of next month's profit. That man's a genius! Now listen here! Don't do anything to embarrass me, Zim. Be on your best behavior, got it!"

"Yes, Sir!" Zim saluted with his chop sticks and continued to eat. After they finished the rest of their dinner, Zim and Dib decided to hang out up in his room for a bit. Dib was on his computer chatting with Gretchen while Zim was reading one of Dib's paranormal magazines.

"So, what really happened, Zim?" Dib asked him. Zim lowered the magazine to see Dib staring at him waiting for an answer.

"She doesn't think I'm ugly." Zim smiled and went back to the magazine. Dib looked at him confused.

"What is that suppose to mean?" Dib asked him.

"I don't know but it sure was nice." Zim said flipping through the pages.

"So, nothing really happened. Okay then that was boring." Dib said going back to his online chat with Gretchen.

* * *

The bell rang and skool was out for Tuesday. Zim waited outside the skool entrance for Mary to appear and she did.

"Okay, are you ready to go?" Mary asked him.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Zim admitted to her.

"Good, let's go then." Mary said walking to her bus stop while Zim followed behind. Zim was a little nervous about meeting Prof. Weylin he even dressed a little nicer than usual for the dinner. Sure he was wearing his usual red T-shirt and black pants but this time, it smelled clean. They waited for the bus from the skool to show up and it did ten minutes later. They took the bus further away from where Zim lived in fact he was surprised how far she actually lived from the skool.

"Mary, you live so far away, how come you are going to this skool?" Zim asked her.

"Because this skool has better classes than the other hi skool." Mary answered him.

"Oh, okay, if I knew how far you lived I wouldn't have had you tutor me from home."

"Don't worry about it. I don't live that far away; we are just about a few neighborhoods away from each other."

"Yeah, but still. Damn!" Zim said leaning himself against his seat. Then Mary pulled the cord to get off.

"Not really." She disagreed and they both got off. The bus stopped right in front of Mary's neighborhood. Zim saw that she lived in a really nice covasac. All the street lamps had lights in them, the children had their own field to play in and the neighbors seemed to be getting along with each other.

"Dang, this place seems very nice." Zim said to Mary as they continued to walk.

"Yeah, it is. Everyone is really kind to each other." Mary said as she waved to one of her neighbors.

"I wished I live here, the only links I have with my neighbors are when they are yelling at us because Gir and Minimoose are being too loud. Other than that, it's that they knock on my door to tell me they accidentally ran over one of my gnomes."

"Well, at least they tell you that they did it instead of leaving it in your front yard for you to figure out what happened."

"That's true." Zim agreed never really thinking about it that way. Mary and Zim finally reached the outside of Mary's house. It was a yellow colored two story home with a garage and about three windows in the front; one big window on the first level and two on top. The yard was really nice and green along with the bushes. There was a side walk connecting the front door to the garage. The house was separated from the other neighbors by a nice wooden fence. On the other side of the fence, a woman came out of her house and was ready to go in her car until she noticed Mary.

"Hello, Dear." The middle aged woman cried out to her. Mary heard her and smiled.

"Oh, hello Mrs. Starworth, how are you doing today?" Mary asked her.

"Just splendid, Mary, my, who is your friend?" Mrs. Starworth asked.

"Hi, my name is Zim." He said awkwardly.

"Hi, Zim, my name is Mrs. Starworth; it is very nice to meet you." She introduced herself politely.

"Same here," Zim responded and Mrs. Starworth chuckled.

"My, you are a funny one, Zim. Oh, by the way thanks again for watching the kids yesterday while I was working. They just called me in for their own convenience." Mrs. Starworth continued.

"It was no problem; Gary and Michelle were no trouble. We had lots of fun." Mary said happily. Zim just looked at her weird. "It's the least I can do for making us that great pie."

"Oh, yes well I was hoping you guys would like it. It's a new recipe I was coming up with…" Mrs. Starworth continued talking to Mary. Mary kept chatting with her while Zim listened in and out of the conversation. Zim thought it was unusual that this was how close her family was to her neighbors but he assumed it was natural in this neighborhood.

"Oh, look I got to get going! I could chat myself a new universe if I wanted to. I'll see you later dear and it was nice meeting you Zim!" Mrs. Starworth waved as her entered her car and took off from her driveway. They both waved back.

"Wow, she talks a lot." Zim pointed out to Mary. She nodded.

"Yes, but she's really nice." Mary said and walked up to her house. Mary opened the door and became startled by her Dad standing inside the doorway. He was a tall skinny man with a clean blond hair cut on him with his big blue eye staring down at Zim. Zim looked up and saw he was wearing a white lab coat with black pants and blue shirt under it. Zim smiled and Prof. Weylin glare turned into a smile as well.

"Dad, have you been standing here this whole time?" Mary asked him.

"No, of course not," Prof. Weylin lied. "You must be Zim; Hi I am Prof. Weylin, Mary's father, it finally nice to meet you." Prof. Weylin offered his right hand to shake and Zim shook it.

"It is a great honor to meet you too Prof. Weylin." Zim said kindly.

"I bet it is." Prof. Weylin said and walked into the living room. Mary and Zim followed behind Mary's Dad to the living room. It was well kept living space equipped with brown couches and chairs. In the middle of it, it had a glass coffee table with some books under it. Across the coffee table, Prof. Weylin plopped himself on his arm chair and began to feel comfortable. Zim looked at the man confused and Mary smiled.

"Well, go on have a seat." Prof. Weylin offered Zim and he sat himself on the couch.

"I'm going to get dinner ready," Mary said.

"Okay sweetie, we'll be waiting in the living room."

Mary exits the living room and Prof. Weylin watched his daughter leave to the kitchen.

"So, you want to marry my daughter." Prof. Weylin said placing his arms up on the armchair crossing his fingers with his hands.

"What?" Zim said embarrassed.

"Well, is that why you're here?" Prof. Weylin asked.

"No, I'm here because Mary invited me." Zim said starting to get nervous.

"Well why don't you? Is she not good enough for you? Can't you see she's pretty?" Prof. Weylin raised his voice.

"Yes, yes she's pretty, but I don't want to marry her, she's just my friend and tutor." Zim said.

"I see, and you are only here because you know that if I don't approve of you that you would lose your tutor, correct."

"At first yes, but I'm mostly doing this for Mary. She really wanted me to meet you." Zim said Prof. Weylin was shocked how blunt Zim was and continued on.

"So you admit that you are being tutored by my daughter that has to visit your ass everyday for the last week, when exactly are you going to be paying her?"

"Paying? I didn't know I was supposed to be paying her." Zim said surprised. "She never mentioned that, but if I must, I will, but I won't be paying her until Friday, will that be okay?"

"Sure, actually it's not really up to me to decide it is up to Mary. You see, Zim, my daughter is not just some old garden weed that you could just pluck out if you wanted to. She's a delicate strong flower that I nurture for many, many years. Now she may have grow her own roots way much deeper than I started her out with but it doesn't mean that she isn't vulnerable. And if anyone and I mean anyone try to pull her out from her own roots I will personally come over and beat the shit out of them, you got that!" Prof. Weylin shouted at Zim. Zim stunned by this analogy turning into a threat just nodded his head.

"Good. Now that we got that out of the way, tell me about yourself." Prof. Weylin smiled.

"Well, let's see here." Zim said scratching the back of his head. "I currently work at Mart-Wall."

"What position?"

"Stock boy sometimes cashier if needed."

"How many years?"

"About six months,"

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have no biological brothers or sisters, I was technically adopted."

"By whom?"

"Prof. Membrane. I'm technically his son."

"Ah, nice fellow! That man is a true genius. So how come you were adopted?"

"Both my parents died of a Ferris wheel accident when I was twelve."

"It must have been hard for you." Prof. Weylin played sympathetic.

"Yeah, it was really confusing because my parents never set up a will and I didn't have anyone else to take care of me at the time. I was friends with Dib, Prof. Membrane son, for long time so he out of the blue adopted me. I was shocked myself when he said this and but before I could say anything I was adopted."

"I see. So I'm assuming you live with your adopted family?"

"No, I live at the house that was left to me. They said I could keep it as long as I have the deed, so I live there."

"Alone?"

"Not alone, well, I made these robots, you see..."

"Ah yes, Gir and Minimoose correct?" Prof. Weylin said. Zim nodded.

"Yeah, Mary said they threw a glass at your head and made you eat a gross waffle."

"Yes," Zim said rubbing his cheek from the injury last week. "Minimoose made me eat it."

"You know, if you are having trouble with them, you could bring them over and I could fix them for you. I could figure out a great mathematical formula and-" Zim placed his hand out to silence him.

"No, that's okay." Zim said.

"Why, they are robots after all, you could fix them."

"If I fixed them, they wouldn't be the same robots that I have grown accustomed too. I'm sorry but I will have to decline your offer."

"But the way they act they might kill you."

"They haven't killed me yet besides it wouldn't be right to change their personalities. It's what I like the most about them."

Prof. Weylin was shocked how seriously strong he felt about his robots and respected his decision. They didn't say anything afterwords. Mary walked in to let them know that dinner was ready and they followed her to the dining room. She had three plates placed on the dining table. The table was relatively small and round and each person had their own section. At each section lied a plate with a piece of fish, rice and salad on it. It was the food Zim told her that he could tolerate. This pleases him.

"Looks good." Zim commented on her cooking.

"Thank you." Mary said set herself at the table. Prof. Weylin sat himself down to the right of Mary while Zim sat to her left. Zim picked up his fork and tried the fish. It had a peppery taste to it and he liked it.

"Mmmm, this is really good, Mary-Moo-Cow!"

"Mary-Moo-Cow?" Prof. Weylin questioned her. "Isn't that what that mean girl call you at skool?"

"No no it's okay, that's my new nickname."

"Aha so you were bothered by it and you were acting so cool about it too." Zim said to her.

"What?" Mary looked confused.

"Why did you think I called you that, just to be cute? I knew you were bothered by that name so made it more bearable for you."

"And how exactly did you make it more bearable for me?" Mary asked peeved.

"By making it a good thing to be called as compared to what I called her. Heh heh, yes my genius plan worked."

"If you say so." Mary said confused. Mary thought about what Zim did for her and wondered why he would do that. But she couldn't really figure it out so she just ate her food. After Mary and Zim ate their meal, they both went up the stairs to Mary's bedroom.

"Keep the door open!" Prof. Weylin screamed from the living room.

"I will!" Mary screamed back. Mary opened the door to her room and Zim saw that her room was very neat. She had a neat brown desk to the wall. The room had white walls, brown carpet and a huge window next to her bed that had pink sheets on it.

"Yep. This is definably a girl's room. Nice job Mary-Moo-Cow!"

"Okay…" Mary said awkwardly. "Shall we begin?" Mary went up to her desk and Zim saw a big white board on wheels next to it. It had all sorts of equations written on it.

"What's this for?" Zim asked as if didn't already know.

"Oh," Mary said looking at her white board. "It's my board. I use it to figure out equations for my math class. I find it easier to work it out on the board than on paper. It makes the equation bigger so I can look at it in a different perspective."

"That's quite impressive!" Zim said looking at the equation on the board. The equation looked scary to Zim and he picked up the white board eraser.

"That's way too scary!" Zim said getting ready to erase.

"NO!" Mary screamed. "Don't erase! I just figured that out yesterday!"

"Oh, oops," Zim peeped. "Good thing you stopped me, huh?"

"Yeah," Mary said picking up her notebook and pencil. "Let me write this down and we can use the white board."

"Okay!" Zim chirped and waited. Mary wrote down the equation and she gave him the signal to erase.

"DIE EVIL MATH PROBLEM!" Zim screamed as he erased it. Mary couldn't stop herself from gigging.

"Okay, now let's do our homework." Mary said to him. Zim nodded and pulled out his math book. Mary and Zim looked at the book, took all the equations from the book and placed them on the board. They solved them one by one and Zim, at the end, copied them down. Then he erased his work!

"Ha, ha you got destroyed!" Zim screamed once again. Mary put her book away in her back pack. Then she saw that Zim was scribbling on the white board.

"What are you doing?" Mary asked him.

"Drawing, can't you see?" Zim said showing her his doodle. Mary saw the scribble. It looked like a poorly drawn square connected to the top of it a circle with ears.

"What is that?" Mary asked him.

"Why, it's Gir!" Zim said offended. Mary giggled.

"That does not look like Gir." Mary commented on his picture.

"Yes it does!" Zim defended his picture.

"Where's his eyes?" Mary asked him.

"I'm working on it!" Zim said drawing two wide circles in the middle of the circle with ears then he drew Gir's mouth. He was smiling.

"There see, Gir!" Zim said. "Isn't the best thing you have ever seen?"

Mary looked curiously at the picture.

"Speechless, you should be! It is purely amazing!" Zim shrieked in excitement.

"He has no arms or legs not even a tail." Mary pointed out. Zim looked back at his picture and saw that Gir was a floating torso.

"Oh, well no problem, I'll fix it." Zim said quickly adding arm and leg nubs to his robot drawing. Mary smirked at his drawing.

"Why are you laughing at? I want to see you do better!" Zim challenged her. "Draw Minimoose! I dare you to beat my drawing!"

"Fine, I accept your challenge!" Mary screamed as well. She took the marker off her board and thought for a minute what Minimoose looked like. Then she drew a tiny circle with alters sticking out of it. Then she drew a large body with four little nubs on it. Then she went back to the head and drew big round eyes on it and a huge smile.

"There!" Mary said putting down the marker.

"Hey! That doesn't look like Minimoose you made his body way too big!" Zim judged the drawing. "In fact you made him way too fat!"

"He doesn't look fat!" Mary defended her picture.

"Yes he does, I live with the robot and I know that he is not that fat looking!" Zim exclaimed.

"Okay, fine. I'm no good." Mary said sitting on her bed. She looked a little disappointed in her drawing. Zim saw this and stopped teasing her.

"Well, it's not that bad, I was just kidding. It looks great. My drawing is shit compared to yours." Zim said trying to make her feel better.

"No it isn't in fact I find it very cute." Mary said standing up from her bed walking towards her whiteboard. She looked at the picture and smiled at Zim. Zim smirked and decided to draw a big T-Rex.

"What do you think about this? I'm really good at drawing these!" Zim said. The T-Rex was cartoon- like with big sharp razor teeth and terrifying tiny arms with sharp claws.

"That's really good but I think it's missing something." Mary said picking up a marker. Zim looked at her baffled and saw that she was drawing big tall rectangular blocks in the background.

"It's missing a city to destroy." Mary said to him.

"Yeah, nice touch, now it needs people to scream at it!" Zim smirked as he drew little stick figure of people on the ground running and screaming from the monster. Then Mary joined in by trying to draw a tank.

"Does that look like a tank?" Mary asked Zim. Zim looked at the car that had a long tube sticking out of the hood.

"Close enough! Now let's see here, we have tanks, people screaming and now what?" Zim said looking at the picture.

"A helicopter shooting at it?" Mary suggested.

"Yes! That's what it needed." Zim said trying to draw a picture of a helicopter.

"Now how do you draw one?" Zim asked her. She had to think about that one.

"How about we started drawing the cockpit?" Mary suggested. Zim nodded. Meanwhile downstairs, Mary's Dad was minding his own business reading his magazine, _Math Works Monthly_, until he heard a big burst of laughter coming from upstairs. This shocked Prof. Weylin and he decided to check it out. He placed down his magazine on the table and went up the stairs following the laughter. There he saw that Mary and Zim were laughing at their attempt of drawing a helicopter. The poor drawing looked like a sandwich ice cream bar with dragonfly wings on it.

"That is so stupid looking!" Mary said to him laughing her head off.

"I know what the hell did I create?" Zim said laughing he's head off too. Prof. Weylin looked at the board and saw the white board with the weird helicopter and T-Rex destroying the city. Prof. Weylin laughed too and this shocked both Mary and Zim. They stopped laughing and stared at her father perplexed.

"Hey, that's pretty good." Prof. Weylin commented. "I like the T-Rex!"

"Thanks, I drew that!" Zim said taking credit for his work.

"It's too bad you have to erase that huh, Mary." Prof. Weylin said to her daughter. Zim shocked by what he said became sad.

"No, in fact I want to keep it. It's way too cool to erase." Mary smirked.

"Well, how are you going to do your equations?" Prof. Weylin asked her.

"I can always flip the board to the other side. It's a double board after all." Mary said flipping the board around exposing the side she never used before.

"I see, you got me there." Prof. Weylin smirked at his daughter.

"Well, it's getting late." Zim said looking at Mary's clock on the wall. "I gotta get going. Thank you for having me over for dinner. See you."

Prof. Weylin looked curiously at the boy as he walked out of Mary's room and down the stairs.

"How are you going to get home?" Prof. Weylin asked him.

"I'll take the bus." Zim commented.

"Oh, no how about I drive you?" Prof. Weylin offered.

"Are you sure, I don't want to be a burden after all the bus is not that bad at night. Mary takes it all the time and has no problems."

"Yes, and if I knew where you lived I would have picked her up every night." Prof. Weylin offered to the statement. Zim then looked at Mary.

"Didn't you have my address somewhere?" Zim asked her looking up from the staircase.

"I did but I lost it." Mary said ashamed.

"Okay, I'll take the ride and show you where I live." Zim said. Prof. Weylin smirked and got his keys off the table. Zim followed Prof. Weylin to the car. It was a 2015 white Susuka. Zim took the front passenger seat while Prof. Weylin took the driver's seat and started up the engine. They took off through the neighborhood.

"Where to, Zim?" Prof. Weylin asked him.

"I live in the neighborhood on 156th street." Zim said to Prof. Weylin.

"Oh, that's not that far from here is it?" Prof. Weylin said.

"Nope, just a couple of neighborhoods away." Zim quoted Mary.

"That's good I thought she was tutoring you downtown or something since you go to the skool in the city."

"Nope, I take the bus and it's kind of far for me too. I pretty much went to that skool because Dib was going there." Zim commented.

"I see, so guys are pretty close, huh?" Prof. Weylin asked him.

"Yeah, but more like best friends not like brother that everybody thinks." Zim said to him.

"I think I met Dib one time. Prof. Membrane introduced his kids to Mary and I when we were at the company's picnic when he was ten. All he seemed interested in at the time was catching Big Foot."

"Ah, yeah, that's Dib for ya." Zim smirked. "What did Mary think about him back then?"

"She thought he was weird." Prof. Weylin said.

"She thinks he's still weird." Zim snickered. Prof. Weylin nodded and turned into 156th street. Prof. Weylin went into the neighborhood. They drove deeper into the neighborhood until Zim pointed to the house. Prof. Weylin looked at the weird design of the house.

"That's a pretty Ummm….A creative looking house, Zim," Prof. Weylin commented.

"Yeah, it was my parent's design." Zim lied and got out of the car. "Thanks for the ride, Sir!"

"Just call me Prof. Weylin, have a good night!" Zim waved as Prof. Weylin was about to pull out of the neighborhood until he saw a green looking dog on his hood trying to eat his car's antenna.

"NO, Gir No!" Zim screamed as he pulled his robot off the hood of Prof. Weylin's car.

"You know the whole fixing your robots option is still open." Prof. Weylin joked to him.

"I'll think about it." Zim said gravely looking down at Gir holding Gir by his scruff. Gir smiled at Zim and hugged his head. Prof. Weylin smiled as well and drove off.

* * *

The Next Day at Lunch at Prof. Membrane's Work

Prof. Membrane looked around the cafeteria to find Prof. Weylin. When he saw him, Prof. Weylin was in the back of the cafeteria eating alone at his table figuring out an equation while eating his meal with his left hand, scribbling with his right. Prof. Membrane went up to his table.

"I see that you are still figuring out that equation." Prof. Membrane said to him. Prof. Weylin looked up to see that it was Prof. Membrane speaking to him.

"Yes, it's tough one." Prof. Weylin commented. "It's theoretically possible but figuring out the right equation is always the hard part."

"Why don't you take a break?" Prof. Membrane suggested. "I want to talk to you about something."

Prof. Weylin put down his pencil and had Membrane's full attention.

"What is it?" Prof. Weylin asked curiously.

"Well, I don't know if you know this but my adopted son came to your house yesterday after skool . His name is Zim."

"Oh, I know." Prof. Weylin. "Zim mentioned that yesterday."

"He did? Well, I was wondering how was he? Because if he was rude in anyway, I let him have it!" Prof. Membrane said to Weylin.

"Ah,ha, ha, ha. No he was very funny, I had no problems with him, and in fact I think his actually good for my daughter."

"What do you mean?" Prof. Membrane asked his curiously.

"Well, when I was downstairs, I heard a lot of noises coming up from upstairs and it was not anything disturbing. It was laughter, laughter! When I looked to see what was up, I actually saw my daughter laughing so hard that her face was really red. I have never seen her that happy before. Most of the time she usually acts like an adult even when she was a kid, she was very mature. That night, I actually saw her act like a kid. It was nice."

"Really?" Prof. Membrane said thinking back. "That explains why she was so helpful at the picnics instead of playing with the other kids."

"Yes, she never really had any childhood friends when she was growing up. When she did have her friends over, she would just watch them play their video games. This was the first time in a while that I actually saw her playing." Prof. Weylin said.

"Hmmm." Prof. Membrane said thinking to himself. "And here I was thinking Mary was good for Zim and now you say he is good for your daughter?"

"Yep, those kids are pretty good together. I wouldn't even mind it if he dated my daughter." Prof. Weylin said to Prof. Membrane. Membrane laughed at the thought and Weylin looked at him funny.

"What?" Prof. Weylin asked him.

"Oh, nothing." Prof. Membrane said and sat down at the table to help Prof. Weylin with the equation.


	16. My Time at Zim's House

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long. I wanted to add some interesting tales to the story that I think I out did myself on the length of the chapter. For that I am sorry. Now without further adieu here's IAWLYROII chapter 16! Enjoy!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 16: My Time at Zim's House.

Zim held Gir as he entered his house that night after Prof. Weylin dropped him off. He was a peeved at Gir for trying to eat the car's antenna and told him to stop doing stuff like that. Gir looked at him like he was crazy and pleaded yet again that he was hungry. Zim explained to him that he was not hungry that it was all in his head. Then Minimoose joined into the conversation by squeaking a lot. Zim frustrated by their bickering, went into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and saw that it was completely empty. He cursed then went upstairs and saw that his closet was empty too.

"Are you guys happy now? You ate all the food!" Zim screamed.

"Yes!" Gir squeaked. "But we are still hungry!"

"That's it!" Zim snapped. "Come here!"

"NO!" Gir squeaked and ran away while Zim chased him. Minimoose saw this and tried to stop Zim by throwing shirts and pants at him using his telekinetic powers. Zim dodged the flying clothes and jumped Gir. Zim opened Gir's chest plate and saw his food. It was all chewed up and disgusting looking.

"Okay…" Zim said to himself. "Maybe robots do have stomachs."

"Yay! I get to eat that all over again!" Gir squeaked, reached his hands in his stomach and ate the food within it. Then the food plopped down in his stomach. Zim was purely disgusted by this and placed the chest plate back on.

"I really didn't need to see that." Zim said holding back from vomiting. "Well, I don't know what else to say but we are totally out of food. I can go see if Prof. Membrane can still give us food but that won't be until tomorrow."

"But we are hungry now!" Gir said to Zim as Minimoose nodded.

"How can you still be hungry if your stomach is full of food?" Zim questioned him.

"I don't know." Gir said quickly while Minimoose wondered himself.

"Humm…I tell you what, if you guys find enough change around here, you can go get some snacks at the two-12 convenience store down the street." Zim said to them. Gir and Minimoose was pleased to hear this and started digging around Zim's room for spare change. They went into Zim's closet, desk and under his bed even going so far to check Zim's underwear drawer.

"Now why would I have change there?" Zim screamed at Gir. Then Gir found a twenty dollar bill.

"Oh, so I do have money in there." Zim said snatching the bill out of Gir's hands.

"No, it's mine!" Gir said. "Gimme!"

"No, Gir." Zim said. "I'm gonna use this to buy food tomorrow at my work. I can get a discount." Zim smirked and dug around his underwear drawer to see if he had any more money in there, but he didn't. He sighed and realized this might be his only hope for money, or is it? That's when he decided to join in Gir and Minimoose's quest for change. They all searched through Zim's room for more change. They found some and went down to the living room pulling up the couch cushions, looking behind the entertainment center, under the couch, behind the bookshelf and even looking inside the scary closet where the robo-parents used to live. To their luck, one of them was collecting pennies.

"I wonder which one was making this collection?" Zim wondered to himself and he picked up the jar full of pennies. Just pennies.

"I'll have to Coin-Cash this." Zim said feeling how heavy the jar was.

"But what about our snacks?" Gir said to Zim.

"NyA!" Minimoose squeaked.

"How much change do you have now?" Zim said. Gir looked at his hands and counted the change.

"About 4 dollars and 53 cents." Gir said to Zim.

"Don't you think that is enough change for you guys?" Zim questioned them.

"But we want suck-monkeys too." Gir pleaded as Minimoose nodded.

"Ahhh, fine then let's keep looking," Zim finally said and started looking in the kitchen. Gir then thought of something and went into the backyard.

"Follow me!" Gir peeped. Zim and Minimoose followed him. Zim turned on the back light and saw that Gir was digging up something. It was a hole with dimes in it. A lot of dimes.

"Why were you burying dimes?" Zim asked him.

"To make my own ant farm!" Gir answered him.

"Made out of dimes?" Zim questioned his reasoning.

"Yep, then the ants would be all shiny and neat looking, but I guess I can make them again some other time." Gir said picking up the dimes. Zim, at that moment, questioned his robot's sanity.

"Well, do you guys have enough money?" Zim said to Gir.

"Yep." Gir squeaked happily.

"Then get out of here and go get your snacks before I take it away from you!" Zim screamed at them. Minimoose and Gir terrified at Zim's screaming took his advice and ran out the front door. Zim caught his breath, looked around the living room and saw how messy his house was. Then he glanced at the clock and noticed it was 12:34 AM.

"That late already?" Zim said scratching the back of his head at the mess in the living room. "Well, I'm not that tired and I can't just leave the house like this. What will Mary think? I guess I can clean up until I feel tired."

Zim placed the cushions on the couch, placed the entertainment center and bookshelf back where it was and tidied up the kitchen. He turned off the back light. He went up to his room and saw that his underwear was on the floor.

"I better clean that up too." Zim decided picking up his underwear off the floor along with any other clothes he had and put them away. He looked at the clock and saw it was 1:50AM.

"Let's see here. If I fall asleep now I can get at least four hours of sleep." Zim said putting himself to bed. He tossed and turned to make himself fall asleep but couldn't. This agitated Zim.

"If I can't sleep then maybe I could work on one of my inventions until I do." Zim said to himself. He went to his desk and saw an unfinished piece of metal he was working on last night. The unbreakable lock. He figured that if he made a lock strong enough it would even keep Minimoose out of his stuff. Yesterday, he found the old pad lock that Minimoose broke and saw that he just broke the metal ring that kept the lock closed but the body where the key went was untouched. Zim got out his mini wielding kit and chose to make the components of the lock out a metal called Tungsten. He shaped the lock ring out of Tungsten and formed a protective barrier outside the lock. All he had to do was fit the lock ring into the body of the lock to complete his project. Zim popped the lock open with a screwdriver and match the new lock ring inside the lock. If it didn't fit he had to shape down the metal ring until it did. This took him several tries until it actually fit. He wielded it shut and tested it out by placing his key into the lock. He turned his key and the lock ring clicked open. He was very pleased by this and looked at the clock. It was 4 AM.

"That took longer than I expected, oh, well at least I know those guys can't break it this time. It's not a complete waste of time." Zim said holding the new and improved lock. Then he remembered The Striking Gem that Skoodge have given him awhile back. He placed the pad lock on the table and took the gem out of his front drawer. He still couldn't figure out how he was going to give this to Mary but assumed something will come up where he could. Zim lay on his bed and gazed deeply into the gem, he saw it slowly change colors and felt very sleepy. Zim closed his eyes and fell asleep. Suddenly, the alarm rang waking Zim up in utter shock. It was 6 AM. Zim rubbed his eyes and got ready for skool. He met Gir and Minimoose down in the living room still sucking on their suck-monkeys. Zim rolled his eyes and left for skool. At Skool, Zim had a hard time paying attention to Mr. Holic's screaming at him for not paying attention. Zim sighed, continued to not pay attention and scribbled in his notebook. Mr. Holic, unable to reach Zim's attention span, decided to scream at Dib instead about Zim not paying attention. Dib just shrugged his shoulders and continued to do the problem on the board. After math, Zim and Dib went to gym class where they were playing basketball. Everyone was running around on the court while Zim was just standing to the side. Mr. Millmere went up to Zim and asked him what was up.

"I just don't feel like chasing a rubber ball down, okay?" Zim snapped at him. Mr. Millmere called him off the court and had him sit this one out. He talked to Zim about fixing his attitude. Zim just nodded and left for his other classes. English bored the snot out of him and he slept through this one. Good thing the teacher didn't care because she was too busy chatting with her buddies on her Face-Space. Then it was lunch time. He met Dib at his locker. Dib studied Zim expression on his face and smiled.

"Not having a good day?" Dib asked him.

"Wow, you are so good can you do fortune telling too?" Zim said sarcastically at Dib.

"Hey, sorry," Dib said offended. "You really are in a bad mood. What the hell happen? Did you loss you're tutoring with Mary?"

" Huh?" Zim said not knowing what he was talking about. Then he remembered. "Oh, no that went fine, it's just I didn't have a good night sleep yesterday. I think I had only two hours."

"Only two hours?" Dib questioned him. "What were you doing all night?"

"Well, I help Gir and Minimoose finds some change for them to get snacks, apparently they really do have stomachs. Then I cleaned up the mess from the search and fixed my lock." Zim summarized to him.

"Couldn't you just buy a new one?" Dib reasoned to Zim.

"Not to keep Minimoose from breaking it. I had to make this one twice as anti-moosey breakable!" Zim said with great excitement. Dib was confused by Zim's excitement.

"Okay…so you had a hard time falling asleep, then?" Dib asked.

"Pretty much, and to make things worse I'm hungry too. I didn't even bother to grab any breakfast because we didn't have anything." Zim said rubbing his squeedily spooch.

"You can have part of my lunch today. I put all sorts of food in there you might like." Dib said grabbing his lunch out of his pack back. "I have a juice box, some left over salad, a sandwich for you to eat." Zim looked at his buddy and cried.

"Thank you Dib, you are a true friend!" Zim said hugging him and crying. Dib looked disgusted by his act. "Get off me Zim and quit crying, man you really are sleep deprived." Then Gretchen walked up to Dib and noticed Zim hugging him crying.

"What's wrong with him?" Gretchen said looking at the disoriented Zim.

"He just, well having one those days, you know?" Dib said.

"What? He's on his period?" Gretchen smirked at her comment.

"NO, I Am Not! I'm A BOY! BOYS DON'T HAVE PERIODS!" Zim shrieked at Gretchen with his face covered in tears.

"SORRY!" Gretchen said offended. "It was just a joke! Dib, I'll be in the cafeteria after you are done coddling Zim."

"Gretchen, wait!" Dib said trying to stop her from leaving him with Zim but she was already gone. Dib focused back at Zim who was still crying on him. "Zim, you gotta quit crying. People are starting to stare. It's not every day you see Mean and Green on Campus crying on the shoulder of the person you practically beat up. If you keep this up, they are going to call Dad and try to figure out what's wrong with you. Calm down. Ah, come here." Dib said dragging Zim by the back of his shirt to an empty classroom. Dib had him sit on one of the desk's table. Zim took a few deep breaths and cooled down. Dib waited for him.

"Do you feel better now, Zim?" Dib asked him.

"Yeah, a little." Zim finally spoke.

"Now are you going to tell me why you are so upset?" Dib asked him.

"Ummmmm….I really don't know." Zim admitted to Dib.

"Are you done crying?" Dib asked him. "Because I don't want you making a scene again. Gross, my collar's all wet with your alien tears! Ewww…." Dib placed his hand on his collar, felt the wet tears and wiped it off with some paper towels next to the sink.

"Yeah, I think I'm done." Zim said wiping his eyes ignoring Dib's complaint. "You think people noticed?"

"It was hard not to notice, Zim." Dib said drying off his cloak with the paper towels.

"Oh, that's right; men are not supposed to cry."

"If we weren't supposed to cry we would have been born without tear ducts. It's perfectly natural."

"If it's perfectly natural, why do I feel so embarrassed by it?"

"Look, Zim. It's not a big deal. Let's just eat lunch." Zim nodded and they both walked out of the classroom. Melvin saw Zim crying earlier and called him a cry baby. Zim punched him in his locker making Melvin cry from the pain.

"There, that makes two of us!" Zim shouted at the kid.

"But yours is different." Melvin defended. Then Zim picked him up from his collar and stared at him.

"You want it to be the same?" Zim threatened.

"Ummmmmmm….No, I'm good." Melvin stuttered. Zim put him down and Melvin ran off. The rest of the students who saw Zim's threat ran off as well. Dib and Zim entered the cafeteria. They saw Gretchen and the rest of the gang staring at Zim.

"Are you okay, Zim?" Mary asked him.

"Yeah, we heard you were crying on Dib!" Tina said excited like.

"Oh, that." Zim responded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a mental breakdown. I'm going to eat lunch now." Zim said grabbing his lunch out of Dib's lunch bag and started sucking on the juice box. Josh, Brian, Tina, Gretchen and Mary looked at him strangely.

"Josh," Zim finally spoke after sucking on the straw.

"Yes." Josh said fiddling on his PDA.

"Don't even think about adding that to your Gossip Bug or I'll break your toy!" Zim threaten Josh. Josh saw how serious he was, deleted the story off his PDA, and put it away in his coat pocket. They continued where they left off in their discussion.

"So what would you rather eat, a spider or a cockroach?" Josh asked Mary.

"I really wouldn't want to eat any of them." Mary admitted not wanting to be part of this game.

"You're no fun!" Josh shrieked and looked at Tina.

"What would you rather eat?"

"A spider! Duh, I wouldn't want to eat a cockroach, its way too dirty at least the spider would be more sanitary." Tina answered his questioned.

"I would eat a spider too," Dib joined in. "if it was a regular house spider, not a poisonous one."

"Oh, come on!" Josh pleaded. "No one would eat a cockroach. Well, in my opinion eating a cockroach would be way better because it won't bite you the way down your throat."

"I wouldn't eat a cockroach if I were you." Brian warned him.

"Why not?" Josh asked curiously.

"Because if you eat the cockroach, wouldn't it come back to life in your stomach and feed on your organs?" Brian questioned him. Josh looked at him in horror.

"Maybe the spider would be better. What do you think, Zim?" Josh said to him.

"I would eat the spider, they're not that bad." Zim admitted.

"What?" Josh said shocked. "You mean you tried one before?" Josh looked at Zim in dismay while the rest of the group stared at Zim awaiting an answer.

"No…Of course not." Zim lied and ate his sandwich. Dib snickered at everyone's reaction.

* * *

Five Years ago after Zim was adopted:

On one fate-full Sunday afternoon, Dib and Gaz were sitting on the couch bored out of their little skulls. There was nothing to watch on T.V. except for infomercials.

"I'm bored." Gaz muttered. "I even beat my game twenty times in a row."

"Me too," Dib agreed with Gaz. "I would be bothering Zim right now but he is still eating that hot dog."

"Is he even eating it?" Gaz wondered to Dib putting her game down on the coffee table.

"No," Dib said looking into the kitchen. "He's just poking at it."

Dib glanced down at the coffee table and saw a little spider crawling off Gaz's video game. Dib came up with a twisted idea.

"I bet I can make Zim eat that spider." Dib said pointing at the spider. Gaz looked at him like he was crazy.

"Not even Zim is stupid enough to eat a spider." Gaz said.

"But what if I could convince him?" Dib said to her.

"How much you wanna bet?" Gaz asked him entertained by the idea.

"Ten bucks." Dib quickly offered.

"Okay if you can get Zim to eat that spider, then I will pay you." Gaz said wanting to see if he could actually do it.

"Deal!" Dib said taking the empty plastic cup off the table, turning it over, and placing it on the spider. Then he slipped a piece of paper under the cup trapping the poor thing. Dib walked into the kitchen and saw that Zim was still poking at the hot dog.

"Hey, Zim," Dib said to him. "Still having a hard time adjusting to human food?"

"Yes, I don't know how anyone can tolerate such disgusting filth to enter the stomach to be called 'food'." Zim said poking the hot dog.

"Well, I think I have something that you will enjoy eating." Dib said holding the plastic cup eye level to Zim's. Zim was intrigued.

"What is it?" Zim asked him looking through the plastic cup to see what it was.

"A spider." Dib said lifting the paper off the cup to show Zim. The spider sat on the bottom of the cup.

"I'm not going to eat that!" Zim shrieked backing away on horror.

"Zim, Zim, wait don't you see? It's not just a regular spider. It is the best kind of spider for eating." Dib explained to him.

"What do you mean?" Zim asked curiously.

"This spider has all the nutrients you need to last you a whole week without eating."

"Nonsense," Zim quickly waved off the possibility. "I won't believe such a thing."

"I know it sounds far-fetched but it's true. Believe me, I got sick one week, really sick, I mean I was vomiting a lot. I could barely hold anything down. Then I ate one of these babies and got better. I didn't need to throw up because I was full."

"Really?" Zim said impressed. "That kind of little spider could do that?"

"Yes!" Dib said and nodded.

"Wait a minute." Zim said. "I have seen these kinds of spiders a lot in my yard. If they are so valuable, why are they running around and not being harvested for its nutritional value?"

"Ummm…." Dib said thinking of a good lie to his question. "Those are regular ordinary spiders; the spider I got was…born with these nutrients in a farm made by people, like cows."

"Oh, I see, but I haven't seen anyone selling spiders at supermarkets." Zim said thinking back.

"It's because they are sold at organic markets. This kind of thing is like a vitamin."

"Okay, you convinced me." Zim said holding out his hand. "Hand it here." Dib smiled and handed him the cup while Gaz, who was outside the kitchen, watched. Zim held the cup over his head getting ready to flip to retrieve the spider until he stopped.

"This isn't a trick, right?" Zim asked him.

"Why would it?" Dib asked innocently.

"You know, the whole used to be mortal enemies, thing. That might be something to raise my suspicions."

"Trust me, Zim. Those days are way over." Dib assured him.

"Oh, okay then." Zim said flipping the cup over and held the spider in his hand, then he quickly popped it in his mouth, crunched on it a little, and then swallowed.

"Holy Cow, just like Fear-Freaks!" Gaz shrieked amazed.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Dib laughed. Zim looked at Gaz and Dib confused.

"What?"

"Zim, there is no such thing as a nutrient spider! That was a bug! A bug! And you ate it! I can't believe you ate it!" Dib shrieked still laughing his head off.

"That sure was entertaining, here's your ten bucks." Gaz said handing Dib his money.

"Wait a minute, so you are telling me that I just ate a bug." Zim said still confused.

"Yeah, I tricked you, don't you get it?" Dib said putting his money in his pant pocket.

"So humans are not supposed to eat bugs?" Zim said to him.

"No, not usually." Dib said. This made Zim really angry.

"Why you no good rotten pig-weasel wretched human I will…" Zim continued to threaten while chasing Dib around the kitchen table.

"That's what you get for trapping me in a cage with a crazy monkey for a week, you space monster!" Dib shouted back. Gaz smiled watching Zim chase Dib down and said.

"Welcome to the family."

"I'll make you pay for having me eat that vile thing if it's the last thing I do!" Zim threaten.

* * *

"Oh, yeah," Zim said thinking back to the incident. Then he looked at Dib who was sipping out of his juice box. Zim squeezed the juice box making Dib choke on the juice. The rest of the juice came out of his nose.

"What the hell, man!" Dib said after he was done choking.

"My vengeance is complete." Zim said as his reason and went back to eating his sandwich. Then Dib wiped the juice off his face and threw it in Zim's face. Zim screamed from the pain and ran out of the cafeteria.

"That's a little too dramatic for having juice thrown in your face." Gretchen wondered to Dib.

"Maybe he didn't want his mascara to run." Tina joked. "I would be running to the bathroom too if that happen."

"No guys, Zim's allergic to water and any contact with it makes his skin burn but you already knew that huh, Dib?" Mary said glaring at Dib.

"What?" Dib said. "He splashed me first!"

Josh, Brian, Gretchen, and Tina became silent and shook their head at Dib's childish excuse.

* * *

After skool, Zim went to his job at Mart-Wall. He was still tired from the restless night he had earlier but he had to endure it if he wanted to keep his job. He clocked on and started organizing the boxes in the back. Then he put the boxes of food he needed to stock on the lift and began pulling it to the isle the food needed to be in. He was doing this for about three hours until his supervisor need him on register. Zim, for his last hour, had to deal with people giving him a hard time telling him that they thought that this product was this price and how the store was lying to them. He had about four people that were like that and then he clocked off at seven. He was exhausted and wanted to go home but sure enough he had to go shopping afterward. He grabbed a cart from outside and went back in. He was looking around until he noticed Steve getting off work at The Sandwich Thing.

"Hey, Steve." Zim waved to him. Steve turned around and saw Zim pushing a cart.

"Hi, Zim, what's up?" Steve asked him taking off his apron.

"Just getting off work." Zim said. "I have to do some shopping before I can get home."

"So that explains the cart, huh?" Steve said pointing the empty cart.

"Yep, which reminds me I have to go to the Coin-Cash to cash in these pennies." Zim said holding the jar of pennies for Steve to see.

"That is a lot of pennies. Have you been collecting them?" Steve wondered.

"Yeah, I had a lot of change lying around so I figured I cash them in." Zim lied.

"Are they all pennies?" Steve said looking at the jar curiously.

"Yep, let's see how much I'm gonna get out of this jar." Zim said walking towards the machine. Zim came up to the Coin-Cash machine. He looked at the lady on the screen who was laughing and smiling holding a jar of coins. Then he looked down at the jar of pennies he had in his hands. Zim turned around to face Steve who looked at him funny.

"Look at me! I'm the chick off the Coin-Cash Machine! I'm so happy to have this jar of change! Just change! 'Cause now I am exchanging it for real money!" Zim yelled at the top of his lungs. Steve laughed his head off at Zim's comment. Everyone that heard him stared at them.

"What's wrong with you?" One lady shouted at them and walked away dragging her child.

"You are really funny, Zim!" Steve said continuing to giggle.

"Yeah, I'm the master of comedy!" Zim said as he dumped his change in the machine. They watched to see how much money he was going to get out of the jar.

"I want to guess seven dollars." Steve said looking at the machine as it counted.

"I guess maybe ten." Zim challenged Steve. They waited for the machine to stop and it did. The machine said that the jar had six dollars worth of pennies.

"Weak," Steve said disappointed. "Only six dollars!"

"And I thought I was getting so much more. That jar was pretty heavy." Zim said holding the empty jar measuring the new weight. Zim pressed the button to receive his money. Six dollars and twenty three cents popped out of the machine. He was ready to shop. "So, you're done with work?"

"Yeah, I'm glad I am off. People were so rude today." Steve said thinking back to the woman that wanted her sandwich remade three times. "Oh, yeah my brother wants to know if you want any 'soda' this week."

"I will be able to pay for the 'soda' on Friday so yes tell him to meet me at the usual spot." Zim said to Steve using the secret code word for beer. Steve nodded and said good bye as he left the store leaving Zim to his shopping. After Zim was done he had about three bags worth of groceries he to carry home. For even leverage, he decided to carry most of the groceries in his back pack. Now he carried two bags. Zim waited at the bus stop, got on and off the bus. After walking about twenty minutes to the end of his neighborhood, he was finally home. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Mary sitting on the couch.

"Mary-Moo-Cow, what are you doing here?" Zim asked her.

"For your tutoring, don't you remember? You asked me to come by earlier." Mary said little peeved at his tardiness. It was now 8:15PM, she have been waiting since seven.

"Sorry, I must have forgotten." Zim said placing the bags of groceries on the floor.

"It's okay, so you got-"

"Shhhhh!" Zim shushed her and then whispered. "Where is Gir and Minimoose?"

"Outside playing, why are we whispering?"

"To keep those guys out of my food, follow me." Zim handed her a bag of groceries and they sneaked quietly up to Zim's bedroom. They entered the room and Zim closed the door behind him. He placed his backpack on his bed and poured out his food. It was all canned pantry items and snacks. Zim placed them into the closet. Mary looked at him funny.

"Don't just stand there help me stack." Zim said.

"Okay…Why are we hiding your food in the closet?" Mary asked as she took a box of waffle mix out of the bag and placed it in the closet.

"I really don't know how to explain this but here I go, you know how Gir took my money to play laser tag with it?"

"Yes, I recall he didn't want the muffins to know he liked cupcakes." Mary said remembering the funny message.

"Right. Well, when I came home last Saturday they spent all my money on these laser tag guns. The money was supposed to be for this week's food budget. I told them to not snack on the food but they kept on snacking Mary, they kept on snacking to the point that I ran out of food yesterday. I told them a thousand times that they don't have stomachs that it was all in their heads. Then I opened up Gir and there was a stomach! Apparently Gir and Minimoose actually do have stomachs but they have a hard time telling the difference when they are hungry or full. So now I'm going to give them portions so they don't eat all my food. Hopefully they learn when they are hungry."

"I see, but Zim you didn't know that your robots had stomachs, you were the one that created them, right?" Mary asked him. Zim surprised that he was caught in his lie decided to create another.

"Ohhhh, ummmm….You see, my Dad and I created Gir and Minimoose together. I guess my Dad thought it would be amusing that they had stomachs. I didn't know he put them in." Zim smirked awkwardly hoping she would believe his ridiculous story. Mary thought about it and believed him.

"Yeah, parents always have a funny way of hiding something from their kids. One time, my Dad thought it would be funny to hide himself in the coat closet on April Fool's Day to scare me, but when I was opening the closet door to put away my umbrella and he startled me so bad that I ended up I hitting him over the head with it." Mary said giggling. Zim thought of the image of Mary hitting her father with an umbrella was hilarious and laughed too.

"So was he alright?" Zim chuckled.

"Let's just say that he had to have a lot of ice after that bonk on the head and a couple of aspirins too." Mary said putting the last item in the closet. "So what's next, Food-Warden?"

"This." Zim said holding the lock he made earlier this morning. "This should keep Minimoose from blowing up my lock."

"He blew up your lock?" Mary questioned him.

"Yeah, he snapped the metal part in half with his mind." Zim explained to her.

"I think Minimoose having psychic powers was part of your Dad's joke too." Mary realized.

"I'm actually starting to believe that." Zim said thinking to the alien that gave him the schematics to create Minimoose. Zim placed the new lock on his closet door and locked it with his key. Then he placed the key in his pocket. That's when Minimoose and Gir ran up the stairs into the hallway playing with their laser guns. Zim heard them and opened the door. They saw their master.

"Hello." Gir said while Minimoose squeaked.

"Hey, how about some dinner?" Zim said to them. Gir and Minimoose looked at each other and then at their master. Zim was holding two T.V. dinners in his hands and gave it to them.

"You know how to use the microwave, right?" Zim asked them.

"Yeah, we sure do!" Gir replied.

"Good, enjoy." Zim said closing the door and walked up to his desk. He sat down on his chair and laid back in it. He looked really exhausted.

"Are you okay, Zim?" Mary asked him. "You don't look too good."

"I don't, ah well. I must be more tired than I thought." Zim said rubbing his eyelids.

"Do you want to rest for a while because I don't need to head home until ten? My Dad is going to pick me up."

"No, no I shouldn't keep you waiting; let's just get this out of the way." Zim said taking his math book out of his backpack. He went back to his desk and sat down at his chair. Mary pulled up a chair and sat on the right of Zim. Mary looked at his problems and began her tutoring.

"I see he is starting you guys on sequences?" Mary said to him. Zim nodded his head. "Well, do you understand what a sequence mean?"

"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention." Zim admitted to her. Mary shook her head.

"A sequence is a set of numbers that have a particular order to them that they follow with this certain equation." Mary explained writing down the equation used in sequences.

"Oh." Zim said confused. "I still don't get it."

"Well, let me show you an example." Mary said scribbling down on a piece of paper. Zim closed his eyes resting them. When Mary was going to show Zim her example she felt a sight thump on her left shoulder, when she turned her body to see what it was, she saw it was Zim's head that was once lying on her shoulder now moved on her chest. Mary, who thought that he was getting fresh with her, became furious.

"Zim, you jerk!" Mary screamed and pushed Zim off of her. She watched as Zim fell on the floor. Violated, Mary looked to the floor waiting for Zim to get up and explain himself. She was surprised to find that Zim was sleeping. Then she realized that he was not being a pervert in fact she realized that he fell asleep on her. Embarrassed by her actions, Mary went to the floor and to see if he was okay. He was, he was still sleeping.

"I'm so sorry, Zim. I didn't know you were sleeping, honest." Mary said reasoning to Zim's sleeping body. Then she stood up looking at him sleeping on the floor. "I can't just leave you there; it was my fault that you were on the floor to begin with."

Mary cleared Zim's bed of his books and back pack and placed them on the floor. She wrapped Zim's arm around her shoulder and was getting ready to lift. She was surprised to find out that Zim wasn't that heavy as she thought he would be then she looked to her right and saw that Minimoose was helping her with his powers.

"Oh, thank you, Minimoose." Mary said.

"Nya." Minimoose squeaked and lifted Zim on the bed.

"Is Master going to be okay?" Gir asked her.

"Yes, he's just sleeping." Mary explained to Gir.

"Okaydokee!" Gir shouted and ran out of the room with Minimoose screaming.

"Gir!" Mary snapped. Gir suddenly looked at her. He was surprised she sounded like Zim.

"You should be quiet not to wake your master." Mary explained to them.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOO….Okay." Gir and Minimoose agreed and left the room. Mary sighed and looked over at Zim who turned over to his side. She noticed something very peculiar about his head.

"He has no ears." Mary went up to Zim's bed to get a better look. She couldn't believe her eyes. "He really doesn't have any ears, how does he hear at all?" Mary questioned and then saw another thing out of place on his head. "He has no nose either. How is that possible? I mean if he was a burn victim and lost both his ears and nose or was born without them he would still have the holes in his head to feel the senses. Would he?" She remembered something very familiar about this feature. "He kind of looks like that alien my mother had captured." Mary stopped herself and stared at Zim in disbelief. "No, that can't be it. He can't be an alien. That's ridiculous! Sure, they do exist but what are the odds that I would meet another one." Then she studied Zim a bit longer. "He did mention that he had a really rare skin condition, maybe that's part of his condition too, besides the alien was short and didn't speak English. Zim speaks perfect English." She turned and walked to the window looking out. She sighed once more. "What are you doing, Mary?" She questioned herself looking at her own reflection. "You shouldn't be accusing your friends of being aliens, your sounding just like your mother. And I promised myself that I would never be that way."

"It's okay Gir; you can eat the video games I don't mind they suck anyways."

Mary heard this and turned to see Zim was talking in his sleep. She giggled a bit and looked over at the homework Zim was working on.

"I don't know how long you are going to be out, but I will help you with it this time. Cheating is not one of my fortes but I'll let it slide since you were having such a rough week." Mary said to Zim. "This is stupid, why am I even talking to you. You're not even listening to me are you?" Zim turned over again and Mary sighed. "Of course not. You have no ears."

Mary worked on his problems on a different sheet and solved them one by one. In about 30 minutes, she was done with Zim's math problems.

"There, I'll leave him a note to tell him to copy my work." Mary was about to write the note until…

"!"

Mary jumped hearing the scream and turned around to see it was Zim. He was still sleeping but more frantic than she had ever seen him before. He kept rolling around his bed reaching around his back like he was in pain.

"AGHGHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhh! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! MAKE IT STOP! I'M SORRY I FAILED YOU, JUST PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!" Zim kept screaming. Mary was shocked by this and didn't know what to do then she saw that Zim was digging his fingers into his arms. She was afraid that he was going to injure himself. Mary jumped into the action and grabbed a hold of Zim's arms.

"WAKE UP! ZIM, WAKE UP!" Mary screamed. Zim kept on struggling with her trying let go of his arms. She lost her grip and let go of him before she got hurt by his struggle. She again tried but this time tried shaking him awake holding on his shoulders but it seemed to make his struggling worse. "ZIM YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP! IT'S JUST A NIGHTMARE! WAKE UP!" Zim still didn't listen and kept on screaming. Mary did what she could only think of that might actually work. She punched Zim in the face. She punched him so hard that the force pushed him off the bed. Zim felt this awoke at last. He was breathing hard and was covered in sweat. Mary saw he was awake and was relieved. She began to cry. Zim knew he had the night terror again due to the expression on Mary's face. Pure terror.

"Mary I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, please it's okay I'm alright, see." Zim said standing up to show Mary. Mary turned her head in disbelief and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"No, you were not Zim. You were screaming like you were in pain! I was so scared I thought you were going to really be in pain for second the way you were struggling. I didn't know what to do so I punched you." Mary whined to him. Zim felt Mary's sting from the punch and placed his hand on the cheek.

"Damn, you sure know how to punch!" Zim said trying to make her feel better but this didn't work. She hugged her knees to her chest placing her head on her knees covering her face. This concerned him.

"Mary, are you hurt, did I hurt you?" Zim said frantically sitting on the bed next to her to see any injuries.

"No, you didn't." Mary said lift her head to see Zim's concerned face.

"That's good, look next time I do that, you are better off throwing water on me."

"But that would hurt you!" Mary protested.

"Yes, but it would be better than having you hurt from trying to wake me up."

Mary looked down at her knees.

"I appreciate what you did for me, what you did was very brave and I thank you."

"How come you were in so much pain? What was the nightmare about?" Mary asked finally looking at him. He turned away.

"I really don't want to talk about it."

They both went silent for a while. Mary calmed down and got off Zim's bed.

"Please don't tell anyone about this." Zim begged to her.

"Do Dib and those guys know about this?" Mary questioned him.

"They do, but I don't want to worry them. I haven't had this happen in a long time."

"Sure." Mary agreed. "Your secret is safe with me. I didn't know how long you were going to sleep so I did your math homework for you. Just copy it from my sheet. I'm going home."

Mary walked over to the desk, got her books off the table and put it in her back pack that was on the floor next to Zim. Zim looked at the clock and noticed it was 8:50PM.

"Your Dad's not going to be picking you up until ten." Zim pointed out. "It's only 8:50."

"Well, I think it would be best that I head home early so you can get your rest. See you tomorrow." Mary said about to leave when Zim grabbed her by her hand. Her looked at her hand and looked at Zim.

"Please, don't go. Just not yet." Zim pleaded. She saw that Zim was still shaken up by the nightmare that he endured and Mary thought it might be wise to see if he was going to be okay the rest of the night.

"Okay," Mary said sitting down next Zim. Mary saw that Zim was still holding her hand and they both let go at the same time. They were both embarrassed.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Mary asked him. Zim shook his head and wondered what would be a good to help him get back to sleep.

"I know this is kind of lame, but could you make up a story?" Zim asked her.

"What?"

"It's just I don't know if I would be able to fall back to sleep, thinking about the nightmare makes it hard, you know?"

"If you put it way that would be the best solution, but I really don't know how to be creative in storytelling. I only made up one story in English class but when I read it out loud people thought it was stupid."

"I would want to hear it."

"Trust me it's kind of stupid."

"Did you think it was stupid when you made it?"

"No."

"Then I won't think it's stupid. So go on, go ahead."

"Okay, but I warned you." Mary said and continued. "Once upon a time in a far away kingdom, lived a beautiful Princess named Melody. She had long golden brown hair, fair skin and big brown eyes that would enchant anyone that looked into them. She was loved throughout the kingdom for her kindness but most of all she was loved for her beautiful voice. When she was born, a fairy gave her the gift that she would always be happy and sing of happy things all the time. So every morning she would walk down from the kingdom to greet the villagers. She would see that whenever one of the villagers were sad or upset due to illness or lost of a loved one. She would sing to them. This made the mourning people very happy and helps with their grief. Her Kingdom was in war with another kingdom over rights to a new territory to expand their kingdom. She thought this was wrong so she tried to reason with her Father and Mother about this but every time she tried to explain the suffering it was causing their people, she would sing a happy tune out of her mouth and stopped. She knew then that her gift was a curse for she couldn't express her sadness. She was sat in the woods thinking to herself how to solve her dilemma until a young soldier appeared before her. He was about her age, had black hair and blue eyes. He sat down next to Melody trying to figure out what was wrong with her but when she tried to explain she sang a happy tune about the forest and stopped. He thought it was a funny way to express her feelings and she agreed. They walked around the forest for a while and the boy introduced himself as Eric. Eric explained to Melody that he hoped that they would win the war so that one day he would raise his farm on the new land. He told her how he loved animals and felt it was his dream to become a farmer. Melody thought it was a lovely dream and thought that the war wasn't so bad if it was going to bring people happiness. Then the huge battle took place. Thousands of soldiers fought that day. It lasted for two days straight until only a few hundred survived. Nobody won the battle. Both parties retreated due to injuries. Melody ran down to meet the soldiers. She looked around for Eric but she couldn't find him. She asked the commander frantically where Eric was. He looked down and said he was dead. He was the first to fall in battle. With tears in her eyes, she opened her mouth and tried to express her sadness. All that came out was a happy song and this made her more upset. Then with all her might she tried once again to sing her sadness. It was still happy, then again she tried and this time it worked. She sang the most beautifully sorrow of a song that it made all the villagers cry when they heard it. After Melody was done mourning over the death of Eric, she marched straight into the kingdom to confront her parents about the war. When she walked into the throne room where her Mother and Father was, she was able to break her curse and explain to her parents the grief it was causing the people of their kingdom. Her Mother and Father walked into the village and saw that it was true. They saw nothing but sadness and decided to end this war by making a truce with the kingdom to divide the land evenly among them. After a few months passed by, Melody was back to her cheerful self again still cheering up the villagers with her songs but this time her songs had more meaning into them for she knew how to grieve and this made her happy. The End."

"Wow." Zim said amazed by the story. "And people thought this was stupid?"

"Yeah it kind of is when you think about it." Mary thought what the kids told her at skool.

"No I don't think so. That's best story that I had ever heard." Zim said to her. Mary blushed.

"It's not that great." Mary said bashful.

"Yes it is! Don't be so modest, it was very beautiful."

"Well, I'm glad you liked it." Mary spoke quietly.

"Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Mary asked curiously.

"Why did you didn't run away when I screamed at you when we first met. I know it's been a while but it have been bugging me for a long time. I mean any other person would run away from my screaming." Mary thought for a minute what he was talking about and then she remembered.

"You mean the first time I invited you to join our table?" Mary said.

"Yeah, why didn't you run away?"

"Well, at that time when I noticed you sitting alone at that table you looked a little sad and I thought that you needed some cheering up. Earlier when I told Josh about how I met you, he said that you were having a bad day due to the whole screwing up on the cannon and making Mr. Burnman quit. So when I asked you and you yelled at me, I thought it was just because you were angry and invited you still just in case you changed your mind. Which I'm glad you did."

"Yeah, you were right. I was having a pretty bad day. Sorry that I yelled at you."

"Oh, that's okay, don't worry about it." Mary waved off his apology.

"So I'm guessing that you heard about my reputation from Josh."

"Yep, especially the part when beat the crap out of the kids that made fun of you for wearing that suit at Wak-Donalds. He said that you followed them after work and beat them up. Is that true?"

"No, not really. I was walking home one day after work until one of the kids from earlier decided to make fun of me again. I just couldn't take it anymore so I beat him up in his front yard. He was crying and stuff and ran into his house after I was done with him. The next day at Skool, he said that I followed him and beat him up. When I explained what really happened they didn't believe me and called me Mean and Green. I was isolated from the population throughout middle and even Hi skool because of it and when people challenged me to fight, I fought and won. Most of the people that challenged me were jocks so that's how I know they get kicked off the team for fighting and I would still fight them just because they were jerks. I pretty much kept up with this persona because I really didn't want to deal with all stupid people making fun of me. So I played tough and was feared throughout the years. I figured it was better off that way and the only ally at the time I could handle was Dib. He was the only ally I really needed."

"Oh." Mary said to that. Zim thought about what he said and continued.

"But, he's not my only friend now! I have lots of friends thanks to you!" Zim said correcting his statement. "I'm grateful, now I don't have to bug him 24/7."

"I'm glad that he has his own life back not having to babysit you." Mary joked to Zim.

"Hey…Do I look like I need to be babysat?" Zim questioned her.

"With nightmares like that, yes you do." Mary said trying to lighten up the mood of the night terror.

"So?" Zim said curiously. "Are you babysitting me?"

"Maaaybe." Mary stretched out.

"Does that mean I have to pay you?" Zim pointed out to her.

"No, Zim." Mary chuckled at his reaction. Gir heard Mary chuckle, ran into the room and landed on Mary's lap. This surprised Mary.

"Can I get a story too?" Gir squeaked looking up into Mary's eyes. Minimoose floated into the room.

"Were you guys standing out there the whole time?" Zim asked them.

"Yeah, we heard Master screaming, got scared and hid away." Gir peeped.

"Everything's alright, so what kind of story you want to hear?" Zim asked them.

"Tell us a story about giant pigs!" Gir squeaked. Minimoose squeaked in agreement.

"Again?" Zim moaned.

"Yes!" Gir peeped.

"Oh, okay." Zim agreed. "Once upon a time there was a giant pig named Phil. He was so huge that he had buildings for legs and huge stomach that can fill an ocean with. So one day he got so hungry that he ate the whole city of Detroit. The End."

"OOOOOOH GREAT STORY MASTER!" Gir screamed in Mary's ear. Gir jumped off of Mary and started dance on the floor with Minimoose.

"That's it?" Mary looked at Zim curiously.

"Believe me. That's all their short attention spans can handle." Zim said. Then Gir jumped on Mary's lap again.

"I like you." Gir said hugging her. Mary thought this was cute.

"Awww…I like you too Gir and Minimoose of course." Mary said while Minimoose floated up to her shoulder. Zim grinned at this very cute moment.

"Can you stay with us forever?" Gir asked her.

"I can visit you guys but I can't stay here." Mary explained to Gir. "I have a home to go to also."

"Why not live here with us?" Gir whined.

"She has her own house to live in Gir, besides where can we have her stay. We don't have any extra rooms." Zim tried to reason with Gir.

"Why, Master she can sleep with you!" Gir peeped. Mary couldn't believe what Gir was saying and neither did Zim. This made them very embarrassed.

"GIR! That's BAD! BAD GIR!" Zim screamed at the little robot. Gir chuckled at Zim's reaction and jumped off Mary.

"WHY?" Gir questioned running while Zim chased after him.

"BECAUSE She's A GIRl!" Zim said to him stilling chasing the robot around him room.

"SO GIRLS Are Not Suppose to sleep with BOYS? IT's ON TV ALL the TIME!"

" That's Different!"

"HOW?"

"GIR!" Zim screamed chasing after him. Mary laughed watching Zim fail to tell his robot the difference. Suddenly, there was a honking outside Zim's window. Mary looked out the window and saw it was her Dad sitting in his car waiting for Mary.

"Oh, that's my Dad!" Mary said grabbing her back pack. "I gotta go, Zim, bye."

"Bye, umm…Sorry." Zim said apologizing for his robot's disturbing comment.

"Don't worry about it. See you tomorrow." Mary smiled and waved him goodbye. Zim smiled back and waved back as she left the room. Zim, forgetting that he was chasing Gir, stood outside his window and watched Mary enter the car and drive away.

"MASTER! MASTER!" Gir screamed. Zim was still looking outside the window.

MASTER!" Gir said throwing a rubber pig at the back of his head. It squeaked as it bounced off Zim's head.

"WHAT?" Zim snapped at Gir turning around facing the doggie disguised robot.

"Why can't Mary sleep with you?" Gir peeped yet again.

"Because she can't, and don't mention this again!" Zim said picking up the rubber piggy and squeezed it with his right hand.

"I don't understand anything!" Gir squealed as he ran out the room with Minimoose.

"Of course you don't." Zim said squeezing the toy as it squeaked.


	17. Family Fun Night!

Author note: Yes, my latest chapter is finally complete! Sorry it took so long, I had major writer's block! So anyways, enjoy!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 17: Family Fun Night!

After Mary left Zim's house, Zim laid on his bed and closed his eyes. He was finally able to get himself a good night sleep. He even slept through Gir and Minimoose's screaming contest they had at the stroke of midnight. Zim was able to sleep so well that he accidentally slept in twenty minutes late. He glanced at his alarm clocked and freaked. He got out of bed, ready himself in about ten minutes grabbing a bag of chips for breakfast along with his lunch. In his last effort, he took his backpack and shoved all his skool work in it and darted downstairs through the front door. He ran through his neighborhood and was able to catch his bus with one minute to spare. He caught his breath and when the bus pulled up to his stop, he pulled out his bus card, boarded the bus and showed his card to the bus driver. She let him on the bus and Zim happily sat himself on the bus seat. He thought he was going to relax the rest of the trip but then he remembered that he needed to copy down his homework from Mary's sheet. So he copied her work on the way to skool. He was done by the time the bus pulled up to his skool. When he entered Mr. Holic's classroom, he turned in his homework and remembered at he had English homework too he forgot to complete yesterday. Zim sat himself down and worked on that through Mr. Holic's predictable daily lecture on how math is all around you and rules your pathetic existence. While Mr. Holic was ranting, Zim was able to finish his homework before Mr. Holic noticed that he wasn't listening. The bell rang and it was gym class. They were playing basketball again. Zim was in such a good mood that he wanted to participate. Mr. Millmere was surprised to see Zim actually scoring points for his team. Dib and his classmates were surprised too that every time he scored a basket, everyone on his team gave him a hi-five. Zim honorably accepted the gesture and scored more points for his team. By the end of the class, Zim's team beat the other team by twenty points to nothing. In English, Zim turned in his homework, laid his head down on his desk and it was nap time for him and the student's of Mrs. Fetcher's class. She kept on reading passages from _Walden_ by Henry David Thoreau that it was hard for the students to keep their eyes open. The bell rang and it was finally lunch time. Lunch seems to be as normal as usual. Brain was reading his new book, Tina was bugging Josh by calling him Kitty Kat, Dib and Gretchen were making out and Zim and Mary were talking about how their day was going.

"So, then I scored ten baskets in gym class. Everyone was so amazed by it that even Mr. Millmere begged me to join his basketball team but I had to tell him no because I had to work." Zim explained to Mary.

"Would you actually join to the team if you didn't need to work?" Mary questioned him.

"No, that was just my excuse." Zim admitted to her.

"I thought so." Mary smirked and continued to eat the rest of her sandwich. "Are you going to need tutoring tonight?"

"No, Mr. Holic was on one of his stupid speeches about Math ruling the universe and such. He ranted throughout the whole period."

"Yeah, he likes doing that a lot." Mary stated the obvious. "Do you know what sequences mean from my notes?"

"Yeah, it's pretty easy to understand." Zim said then sipped on his straw from his juice box.

Dib, who was listening to the conversation, suddenly stopped making out with Gretchen.

"Zim," Dib shouted while Gretchen became annoyed at him. "You actually understand math?"

"Hey," Zim said astonished. "You know what? I think I do. Aha! I beat you math! I beat you!"

"Zim…" Mary said trying to get his attention but it was no use for he was in ranting mode.

"No more confusing problems for Zim!" Zim continued on standing on his seat. "Now I am all powerful! Nothing will get in my way of dest-"

"Zim!" Mary snapped. Zim stopped and looked down at her.

"You're getting ahead of yourself. You still have to pass that third quarter exam with a 91%, remember?" Mary reminded him.

"Oh. Yeah," Zim said embarrassed sitting himself back down on his chair. "I must have forgotten."

"I don't mean to rain on your parade; you're doing great and all but now that you are caught up, it's time to stay that way. I don't want you to jump the gun. You have to stay focus." Mary advised him.

"Got it!" Zim peeped then ate his chips. Josh looked over on how serious Zim looked then looked back at Mary. She had a worried look on her face.

"Mary, Zim should enjoy his spot in the light. He should be fine as long as you keep tutoring him; I mean you are the best math student in the skool."

"I suppose so…" Mary said fiddling with her straw pushing it and pulling it out of her juice box.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that you didn't join the math club." Tina joined in the conversation.

"They didn't want me…" Mary said ashamed.

"Cough, cough, cough, assholes, cough, cough." Brain said imitating the cough while reading his book.

"Those math geeks acts nice but they really are jerks. Believe me; I have to deal with them in orchestra." Gretchen said. "You wouldn't want to join their stupid club anyways; I heard the teacher supervising them is in fact Mr. Holic himself."

"Damn, the last thing I want to do is join a club to see his ugly face again." Zim said. "I have to deal with that fool first thing in the morning; I wouldn't want him to ruin my afternoon too. Mary! Take Gretchen's advice and don't feel bad about not getting into that club. They are full of jerks and you are not a jerk."

"You guys are right. I shouldn't feel bad about it. In fact I thought the way they shunned me was sketchy. They said that I wasn't smart enough to join, but when I proved myself by solving their problems on the board, they got mad and told me that I would ruin their fun."

"When has solving math problems been fun?" Tina said astonished. "They need to get out more."

"What we need to do is create our own club!" Josh shouted aloud to everyone at the table. They looked at him confused.

"Why?" Dib asked him.

"I dunno. Just trying to keep the conversation alive." Josh admitted his reason.

"Awwww, Kitty Kat you tried but you just killed it!" Tina shrieked.

"Stop calling me that!" Josh protested.

"Never!" Tina peeped and hugged him. Josh sighed and hugged her back.

The bell rang and lunch period was over with. They all said their good-byes and went their separate ways. Zim went to his U.S. History class and it was boring as usual. Their teacher was talking about the 1920s. After that he went to Earth Science and that wasn't interesting as well because he was talking about how important it was to recycle. The only class that didn't bore the alien slime out of him was surprisingly his other math class he had to take with Mrs. Roster. He actually paid attention to the lesson and got some extra credit by solving some problems on the board. The final bell rang. Zim was about to leave the classroom to get ready for work until Mrs. Roster asked him over to her desk.

"Yes, Mrs. Roster." Zim said a little confused on why she wanted to speak with him. He thought he didn't do anything wrong.

"Zim, I just want to say that I am impressed on how well you are doing in my class." Mrs. Roster told him.

"Ummmm…Thank you…" Zim said staring at the lady.

"In fact I am so impressed that I'm nominating you for Student of the Year." She continued.

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha," Zim laughed at Mrs. Roster's joke, but when he looked at his teacher, he saw that she was serious.

"Oh, you're not kidding?" Zim asked her.

"No, now why would I kid about that?" Mrs. Roster asked him.

"I don't know, no offense but shouldn't you be nominating a much smarter, cleaner looking kid than I. I'm not exactly what you call a 'perfect role model'. I mean, shit, I swear a lot and get into fights. I'm not the most likable person. Why would anyone vote me student of the year?"

"Well, I believe you have what it takes to become Student of the Year even though you might not see it but I see a lot of potential in you." Mrs. Roster said smiling at him. This creeps him out.

"You're no hitting on me are you because that's illegal." Zim asked just to be certain.

"No, Zim, I'm just letting you know that I'll be nominating you so keep up the good work!"

"Yeah, yeah," Zim waved off walking out of the classroom. "You can do whatever you like but I'm telling you, you're wasting your nomination."

Zim walked out of the skool and waited at the bus stop to go to his job. He couldn't believe that his teacher was nominating him for Student of the Year. He remembered all those years at the end of the year they would hold an assembly to hand out awards to all the good little kids. He usually sat with Dib and passed notes to each other commenting how boring this was and how stupid they looked when they received their awards. Zim had never won an award in his life not even for perfect attendance. He thought it was a complete waste of time and paper. He caught his bus and went to work for about three hours today. When he got home, Zim was greeted by Gir and Minimoose at the door waiting to be fed.

"Master, master, where's dinner?" Gir asked him jumping up and down pulling at his arm.

"Give me a minute, I just got home." Zim walking into the kitchen.

"But we are hungry now!" Gir peep as Minimoose squealed.

"Stop complaining how hungry you are, it's getting old. Why didn't you guys eat what I left you in the fridge?" Zim said looking inside the refrigerator staring at the untouched container.

"Because it was old!" Gir explained.

"I made it yesterday!" Zim said opening the container of mash potatoes and gravy he made for them before he went to bed. "See." He said showing them. "It's still good, now eat it!"

"But we want snacks!" Gir protested.

"Eat this first or no snacks!" Zim demanded and handed Gir the container. Zim marched up to his bedroom, sat himself down at his desk, pulled out his homework and English book and started reading. When he was about to turn the page, he saw Gir staring at him holding the container.

"Gir, what are you up to?"

"Nothing…" Gir said innocently.

"Nothing…or something?" Zim said hoping this would work to make Gir talk but not this time. Gir place the container on the floor and walked up to the closet.

"Ha, trying to get into my closet of goodies, not likely, I made that lock myself. It's made from the most strong-"

Gir pulled down on the lock and snapped it open breaking the lock. This shocked Zim.

"Ahhhh!" Zim screamed as Gir reached into the closet and grabbed himself a bag of potato chips leaving Zim to morn over the wasted time of his work.

"Why must everything I create fail me!" Then the door bell rang. Zim got off the floor and answered the door. He saw it was Dib.

"Hey, what's up? Need a place to hide from those ninja ghosts again?" Zim asked him curiously.

"No I don't and I told you already that I've taken care of that. It's Family Fun Night so get your coat."

"Since when was it Family Fun Night?"

"Since ten minutes ago when we found out Dad is going to be working all the rest of this month in his lab downtown. He already programmed the floating computers so he can talk to us through them."

"I hate those things! They keep floating into my head."

"I know, this is the only time we get to spend with him in person so we are going out."

"Ooooo…owwowwwowww….owww…My squeedily spooch, it hurts…I think you should go out without me." Zim said pretending to be in pain holding his lower body. "OOOOooo…Go on without me, I'm not feeling well…"

Zim looked up and saw that Dib was not moved by his performance.

"Oh no, you are not going to get out of it this year!"

"Why not?" Zim protested suddenly feeling better.

"Because when you agreed to be part of our family, you have to do this kind of stuff."

"But I didn't-"

"Whatever, just get ready."

"Oh, fine if you want me to go that badly." Zim said grabbing his coat off the couch. "By the way, Dib, I didn't agree to be a part of your family, they made me."

"They may have but without my Dad bailing your ass out, you would have been doomed. You owe him."

"I guess you're right." Zim agreed as he walked along side Dib to his house.

* * *

Five Years Earlier

"Hey, Zim, Over here!" Dib shouted waving his hand up in the air to get Zim's attention. It was after skool graduation celebration for the sixth grade class and this year's theme was Carnival Fun-Time. Zim heard Dib screaming his name and left his parents staring up at the roller coaster. He moved himself around his graduated class to get to Dib.

"Hey," Zim finally said. "I can't believe they were able to fit a carnival in this tiny skool yard. Couldn't they just take us to the real Fun-Time across town?"

"Nope, then all the parents would complain how far they would have to drive and pay for our graduation party." Dib reasoned to Zim.

"Where did you hear that from?" Zim asked Dib.

"I asked the principal the same thing and he said that they were able to rent out the equipment and have the celebration here due to that fund raiser we had. Then he said I was annoying and told me to go away."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that fund raiser. I broke my record by selling 3.8 million of those candy bars and I still didn't get my mystery prize. All I got was this hair brush." Zim said pulling out the pink hair brush. It had some broken bended bristles on the left side of the brush.

"Zim, this was your prize." Dib pointed out to him. Zim looked down at his brush and back at Dib.

"Really?" Zim questioned Dib.

"Yep." Dib peeped to him.

"They tricked me again!" Zim snapped as he threw his prize on the ground.

"I told you it was another scam but noooo. You just had to pull out the persuasive buying helmets again, huh?"

"Sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me." Zim admitted.

"Well, at least we got this cool party out of your earnings."

"Yeah, you should all be grateful! Be grateful to Zim!" Zim shouted to his fellow classmates.

"Shut up, God, you are so annoying!" One of the girls said and walked off with the rest of the students leaving those two to talk.

"So, where are they?" Dib asked curiously.

"Where's what?" Zim questioned.

"Your Robot Parents?" Dib cleared up hoping to see some weird entertainment.

"Oh, yeah, they're right over there." Zim pointed to the normal looking couple staring at the roller coaster watching the cart move up and down along the track. The screaming from the cart made them giggle. The couple looked exactly like Zim's robot parents but they were real. Dib's mouth dropped open in disbelief.

"Oh, Dib, they are not robo parents anymore. They are human now." Zim explained to his shocked ally.

"How did you make them human!" Dib screamed in amazement.

"Well, it was a not an easy task but I figured that since I was going to be staying on this planet forever, I would have to make some real parents instead of the robotic ones. Everyone was catching on at last year's parent teacher conference when Dad threw one of his mechanical eyes in the punch bowl. So about four months ago, I collected my DNA samples. They were embryos. So I took the embryos and…"

"Embryos!" Dib shouted.

"Ummm…Yes, embryos…anyways I-"

"How did you get embryos?"

"Oh, I went down to the fertility bank and bought them."

"How in Hell did a twelve-year-old looking boy buy embryos?"

"Heh, heh, funny story. I went down to the bank dressed like a woman and cried a lot on how I wasn't able to have children because I was barren. So I paid them about one hundred dollars each for two and told them that I wanted fraternal twins so they fertilized the eggs for me. Then I heard that they wanted to put them inside of me. I couldn't let that happen so when the doctor was reaching for one of his tools, I bonked him over the head with one of the display models of a uterus and took off with the eggs."

"Wait! You only paid two hundred dollars for them. Wouldn't they be more expensive than that?"

"Not the defective ones. I could always change their DNA to destroy their deformities."

"How did you get two hundred bucks?" Dib asked more interested in Zim's achievement of wealth.

"I cleaned out Ms. Gather's garage and helped her set up a garage sale. She had a lot of stuff she had to sell. She said she was a pack rat and the disease was killing her and I assumed she was right because that garage was packed to the ceiling. After the garage sale I was given a three hundred dollar cut. She made seven hundred bucks."

"Nice, how come I wasn't involved in your money making scheme?"

"Zim don't like to share. Beside you were at space camp that week. I had to do something during my mid-winter break other than watch T.V. although T.V. is good." Zim explained.

"Okay, back to the topic at hand. So let me get this straight. You dressed up like a woman…"

"Uh-huh." Zim nodded.

"Went to the fertility bank…" Dib continued.

"Yep."

"Paid for defective fertilized eggs…"

"Yep." Zim repeated.

"And ran off to create your new parents?"

"Yep. Pretty neat, huh?"

"That's really messed up, Zim!" Dib shouted furiously mortified by Zim's actions. "Where was I when you were doing all this?"

"I didn't want you involved because you would convince me not to do it."

"Yeah, I sure in Hell would have tried!" Dib said. Then he took a deep breath and calmed down. "Okay, continue on."

"Oh, right. Anyhow, I took the embryos, remade their DNA so they had the same physical appearances of the robotic parents. Mom having blue hair and brown eyes and Dad having brown hair and eyes. They were both made to be tall. So I put each embryo in their separate embryonic tube. I knew that if I wanted to use them as my parents I would have to speed up their growing process to adulthood. I used my variable time stasis field for that trick and-"

"The same time stasis field you used to make that slow explosion. Why would you use that? Don't tell me that you are going to explode the whole city again."

"Heh, heh, no Dib." Zim assured Dib. "This time I made it that it would make organic material grow faster not make the objects move faster, so no slow explosions."

"Good." Dib said relieved.

"Just a side effect of making someone grow really old in fifteen minutes anyways-"

"What?" How did you figure that?"

"We tested the time stasis field on many gerbils named Mr. Giggles. Gir named all of them Mr. Giggles. Most of them died in ten seconds after testing until one survived. We call that one Mr. Giggles, The Survivor. I named that one."

"Those poor gerbils." Dib said sympathetic to experimented creatures.

"Yeah, so stay away from my time variable stasis field unless you want to be a grandpa."

"Fine, continue with this story. I want to hear more on how crazy this is, I think…"

"Good, it gets better. I recreated my variable time stasis field to make organic creatures grow faster than usual and with all my experiments on Mr. Giggles; we finally got the time stasis field at the right growing speed. Gir and I connected it to the embryonic tubes. It took and a month in a half until they reached adulthood and voila new human parents." Zim said pleased on how well his experiment went. Dib came up to the human Mom and stared at her in disbelief. She was indeed human. She bent down and stared back at him.

"Hi, I'm Mom, what's your name?" She spoke to him.

"Dib." Dib introduced himself.

"Hi, Dib can you play with me?"

"Huh?" Dib confused turning to face Zim.

"The only problem with growing adults is that their brains don't develop with the growth. When they were born, they acted like infants so we taught them how to speak, eat, walk, and well use the bathroom. They look like adults but with the intensive mind training we did, they both have minds of a five year old child. I wasn't going to have them come to this thing but the night before Gir and Minimoose decided to stuff the robo parents with mushroom and rocks after playing Shroom, Shroom Madness on the game console. Apparently, the mushroom made them explode somehow. I figured this would be a perfect experiment to see how they interact with others. They seem to be doing pretty well. Nobody seems to mind their child-like behavior." Zim explained to Dib.

"Wow, I can't believe you pulled this off." Dib said to him.

"I know, I'm the freakin' miracle worker." Zim said then human Dad went up to Zim dancing around him.

"Son, I need to go pee-pee!" Dad whaled holding his groan area.

"Alright, come along," Zim said holding Dad's hand. "Dib, could you watch over Mom, I need to go take Dad pee-pee."

"Ah hah ah hha ha," Dib laughed at Zim's statement then recollected himself. "Ah, ha, ha sure, no problem." Zim looked at Dib annoyed and took his Dad to the bathroom. When they came back, Zim saw that Mom was gone.

"Where's Mom?" Zim shouted.

"Don't worry," Dib said. "She's right over there looking at the stuffed animals in the claw machine." Zim saw this was true. She was about a couple of yards away from them.

"Okay, then," Zim said relieved.

"I wanna look at the toys!" Dad shouted to Zim.

"Fine, go look at the toys." Zim allowed him letting go of his hand.

"Yay!" Dad shouted in joy, ran over to greet Mom and stare at the toys. Zim shook his head as he watched his parents look at the toys. Then he noticed that Dib was smiling very creepy- like at him.

"What?" Zim snapped.

"Daddy Zim." Dib smirked.

"Quiet with your mouth!" Zim suggested. Prof. Membrane in the flesh and bone came over and found Dib with Zim.

"There you are Son," Prof. Membrane said to Dib. "Congratulations for passing elementary skool. Two more skools and off to college, exciting isn't it?"

"I can't wait." Dib sarcastically spoke. Prof. Membrane then turns to notice Zim.

"Ah, Zim, my greatest experiment!"

"I'm not an experiment."

"Oh, right." Prof. Membrane corrected himself. "How is life living without your Pak treating you?"

"Good, good. I'm able to eat properly and function down there as well too."

"And just in time. You wouldn't want an accident coming Jr. High. That's like total outcast labeling."

"Yeah, that would be embarrassing." Zim admitted.

"Hey Dad, guess what, Zim made real humans!"

"What?" Prof. Membrane said shocked. "Impossible!"

"Well, they are right over there." Zim pointed to them. Prof. Membrane ran over to see what Zim was saying was true and studied the parents. He scanned them with his portable x-ray pointer and came back to Zim looking at the facts on his pointer.

"Incredible!" Prof. Membrane said looking down at Zim. "How long did it take you?"

"About a month and a half." Zim said and continued on how he was able to create them.

"Amazing! With your alien knowledge of genetic engineering, you should defiantly consider a career in this field."

"I guess I should. I am good at it." Zim said.

"You certainly are! Now, how do you guys feel about going to Jr. Hi Skool?"

"It's gonna be great, that's when we choose our own classes right?" Dib said to his Dad.

"Correct, but only the electives." Prof. Membrane told his son.

"Oh…" Dib said disappointed. Zim wasn't paying too much attention to what they were talking about. Zim was thinking to himself how Middle Skool would be. He never really given much thought of actually going to Middle Skool with the Dib. Where does he fit in he wondered. He had a home to go to a year ago but now that is gone. This left Zim's purpose of going to Middle Skool half-hearted. Zim sighed thinking about his dilemma leaving those two to chat. He decided he wanted to check on his parents. When he was about to walk over to greet them, he heard a loud crash coming from the Ferris wheel, he looked up and heard screaming coming from the people in the ride as the wheel fell off its axel. Zim looked down and saw that his parents were standing right under the Ferris wheel. Zim ran towards them screaming.

"Mom! Dad! Get out of the Way!" Zim screamed but it was too late. The wheel crushed them and rolled on the ground. Everyone began to panic, screaming and running frantically away from the wheel. Zim stood there. He became paralyzed by what he just saw. Zim saw that the wheel was coming his way but he couldn't move. He wasn't sure whether it was part of a messed up dream he was having or reality but he was about to find out until Prof. Membrane grabbed him. Prof. Membrane was carrying Dib as well as he ran them out to safety out of the skool yard. They joined the rest of the group. The crowd watched as the Ferris wheel rolled three yards away from its platform and crashed into the roller coaster. Luckily no one was on the ride at the time. The carnie was on break.

"Somebody call 911!" One person screamed and the adults came to aid the people trapped in the Ferris wheel ride. Then a couple minutes later the policemen, firefighters and paramedics came on the scheme. Prof. Membrane put Dib and Zim down on the ground with the rest of the children.

"Dad, Dad, what just happened?" Dib screamed to his father.

"The Ferris wheel fell off its platform, it's okay Son. I need you to stay here. How is Zim?"

"Zim," Dib screamed to him but he didn't respond. "Zim, are you okay?" Dib asked but still no response. Zim stood there with an emotionless expression on his face. This worried Dib. "Zim, Zim, Zim, Zim," Dib kept on shouting with tears in his eyes trying to shake him awake. "There's something wrong with him Dad, he not responding."

"He is probably in shock. Look Son, I need you to watch over him. Make sure no paramedics have a look at him. I need to try to help the people stuck in that Ferris wheel."

"Can't you let the police and firemen handle this?" Dib reasoned to his Dad not wanting him to leave.

"We need everyone to help those people. There aren't enough firemen and police men to save those people, see Son everyone is doing their part." Prof. Membrane showed to his son that the parents were helping firemen pull the people stuck under their seats.

"Now can you do this for me, Son?" Prof. Membrane asked Dib.

"Yea, I'll try…" Dib said wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Good boy," Prof. Membrane praised his son and ran off onto the skool yard. He watched as his father was helping lift a heavy beam off a trapped cart. He saw that the people under the cart came out okay and was relieved. Dib was so impressed by his father's heroic duty that he totally forgot about Zim. Dib turned around and saw that he was gone. Dib looked around and saw that Zim was walking into the skool yard. Dib followed him.

"Zim, Zim, come back! It's still way too dangerous!" Dib shouted to him but Zim didn't listen and kept on walking into the skool yard. Dib had no choice but to follow him. Dib entered the skool yard once more. He saw the paramedics treating the injuries of the wounded that the firemen, the Samaritans and his Dad rescued from the accident. Dib walked around the accident quickly to catch up to Zim. Zim stopped walking; Dib saw this and ran towards Zim. Dib saw that Zim was staring down at two black sheets. Zim stared down at the black sheets knowing that his parents were under there. Zim bent over and grabbed a corner of one of the sheets.

"Zim, don't do it!" Dib pleaded with him. "It may be too graphic."

"They are my creations! I can do whatever I please fit! I want to see this for myself!" Zim snapped at Dib breaking his catatonic state. Zim grabbed both sheets and in a flash uncovered the two mangled bodies. Both their bodies were crushed from the impact. Their rib cages were smashed and flattened. Their arms and legs were broken and torn out a place in everyplace unimaginable. It was a bloody mess. Dib saw this briefly, walked away and threw up on the pavement. Zim stood there in disbelief. He looked into the eyes of his creations and saw that they were scared out of their wits. After Dib was done retching, he wiped the remaining saliva off his face and went back to the horrifying scene to check on Zim. He saw that he was crying.

"…No fair…" Zim muttered under his breath. "They were just born and now they are dead."

"I'm so sorry, Zim…" Dib said then placed his hand on his shoulder in his attempt to comfort Zim. It didn't work. Zim kept on crying.

"Why, why, why,why…" Zim repeated to himself wiping the tears from his eyes.

"I know, I know…" Dib repeated to Zim patting his shoulder. Dib tried not looking at the bodies while comforting Zim. Dib saw to his right that three paramedics and a police officer arrived to the scene with a stretcher and two body bags. They noticed the kids and the uncovered bodies. They saw that one of the kids was really upset.

"Shit…" One of the paramedics said. "This job is never easy."

"Hey, kid." The police officer addressed Dib. "Do you know these people?"

"Yes, they were my friend's parents." Dib answered the officer.

"Come with me," said the officer. Dib pushed Zim to walk with the police officer off skool grounds to the police cars.

"Hello," The officer bent down to address Zim. "If you can, could you tell me your name?"

"Zim." Zim muttered to the officer quietly. The police officer smiled at Zim.

"Now, Zim, do have any place to stay for awhile until we figure this out. You know, like your grandparents, aunts or uncles, someone to watch over you?"

"No…" Zim said then Dib cut in.

"Yes, he does. He can stay at our house with my family. He is kind of a cousin to us."

"We need him to stay with a family member to help us gather info on the deceased."

"But he has no other family members. He is better off staying with us!" Dib shouted at the officer.

"And where are your parents little boy?" The officer asked Dib.

"My Dad is Prof. Membrane and don't change the subject. I'm telling you that he is better off staying with us!"

"Wait here." The officer said to them. Dib and Zim stood there for awhile uncomfortably until Dib recognized his father in the crowd.

"Dad!" Dib shouted relieved to see his father walking with the officer.

"Is this your child?" The officer asked Prof. Membrane pointing to Dib.

"Yes, he is. What's going on?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"May I talk to you in private?" The officer said taking him along the side a couple feet away from where Zim and Dib were standing. Dib watched his father talk to the officer then focused back on Zim who was still crying. This concerned him.

"Zim, I know you are upset, but you have to suck it up. They were experiments after all."

"Experiments!" Zim snapped at Dib. "They were more than just experiments! Don't you see, I raised them myself, that look on their faces, the horror that they felt getting crushed by that wheel. They weren't created to end that way, they were so young…" Zim whined and continued to cry. Dib tried to make sense to what he was saying but couldn't. He really didn't understand anything at the time. It just happened so fast to make sense of it all. Dib wished this never happened. Prof. Membrane came back from the officer.

"Okay boys, come with me. I'm taking you guys home." Prof. Membrane said.

"Really? Thank God!" Dib said.

"Yes, they can handle it from here. They want everyone to go home. The police man said it's okay to have Zim at our house. He said they will come over later to ask Zim some questions, though."

"Okay, come on Zim." Dib said pushing Zim to the direction of the car. Dib lead Zim to the back passenger seat. Zim sat himself down and buckled up. Dib sat himself in the front passenger seat of the car next to his Dad and they drove off skool campus. The traffic was horrible but Dib was happy that he was finally going home. A few minutes later, Dib glanced at the front mirror and saw that Zim was not crying anymore. He was looking out the car window. Dib was glad that he had his sanity back. It was about evening when Prof. Membrane and Dib returned home. Dib and Zim walked into the living room and sat themselves on the couch while Prof. Membrane went into the kitchen to make dinner. Gaz was in the living room watching the Ferris wheel madness accident on T.V. She noticed that Zim and Dib both were on the couch. She turned off the T.V. and decided to play her video game instead. She didn't want to ask about the accident. She didn't want to create more drama. She figured what was said on the news was all the information that she needed to know. Zim closed his eyes and rubbed his eyelids. They were exhausted after all the crying he did today. He was wondering what to do at this point. He didn't know how to break the news to Gir and Minimoose that they were dead. Zim opened his eyes and saw a can of pop in front of him.

"Soda?" Dib offered holding it in front of him.

"No thanks, besides grape is not my favorite flavor."

" Fine." Dib said opening the can and drank some of the soda from it. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I guess so; I kind of lost it when I saw my creations mangled bodies."

"I told you not to look but no you just had to damage your psyche. Thanks to you I'm probably gonna have nightmares for weeks. Ah, man, I can't get that image out of my head, it's like every time I close my eyes, it's there it's-"

"Shut up!" Zim snapped annoyed at Dib's whining. "I don't want to hear how damage you are! It's not like you lost something from all this so quit your bitching!"

"Hey," Dib said defending himself. "It's not like I was the one that turned into a big mush pit you should thank me for at least helping you!"

"Now, now you two," Prof. Membrane said walking into the living after hearing them argue. "It's been a rough day but we have to calm down. Zim, I know you lost something close to you. Losing an experiment you have grown attached to is never easy. Believe me, I had to do it several times, but in order to move on, you have to let go. Do you understand?"

"I believe I do, but it might take some time, is that normal?"

"Yes it is and Son talking about the incident to Zim right now is not going to make things better. If you want to talk about it, you can talk with me privately, okay?"

"Yes, Dad, sorry." Dib peeped to Zim.

"You should be." Zim said accepting his apology.

"Jerk." Dib peeped.

"Creep." Zim said to him.

"Good, now that that been straightened out, how about some dinner?"

"Finally." Gaz said walking into the kitchen to eat her dinner.

Then there was a knock at the door. Prof. Membrane came up to the door to answer it. At the door there were two men standing there. One man dressed in a brown suit looked like he was in his thirties. The other man was sort, old and dressed also nice in a brown suit.

"Hello, Prof. Membrane. My name is Officer Melanky," said the younger looking one. "I'm with investigations and this is Dr. Pooney. He is with social services. Is Zim here at the moment? We would like to talk to him."

"Yes, of course, have a seat." Prof. Membrane said inviting them into his home offering them a seat on the couch right across the table from Zim and Dib. Prof. Membrane sat himself down next to Zim.

"Zim, we would like to start out saying that we are sorry for your lost. We understand that it must be very hard for you to lose both your parents in this tragic accident."

"How can you understand? It's not like your parents were crushed by amusement toys." Zim stated.

"Ummm…Actually mine was." Dr. Pooney finally spoke. "My Dad was on a ride, then flew out of his seat and cracked his skull in. He didn't want to wear the seat belt."

"Huh, small world, so why exactly are you guys here?" Zim asked them.

"We are here to tell you how this whole incident happened. Apparently there was an eye witness saying that a man in a green sports car rammed his back bumper into the platform of the Ferris wheel so hard that it made the bolts supporting the axle of the wheel loose and well you know the rest."

"Yes," Zim said gravely remembering what happened earlier.

"The witness said that the man freaked and drove off from the scene. He said that he tried to get his number off his plate but noticed it was gone. The witness only had a vague description of the man. This is what the man looked like to our witness." Officer Melanky said pulling out the picture from his brief case to show Zim. Zim took the picture and had a good look at him. He looked young and stupid looking. It disgusted him and he handed the picture back. Officer Melanky continued to speak.

"If we find the man, we will definitely charge him with manslaughter but it's gonna be hard to track this guy down. It might even take years until we find him but we are going to do our best."

"If you're going to do your best, shouldn't you be looking right now? After all you said you are an investigator. Now human investigator, investigate!" Zim demanded from him standing up from the couch.

"Calm down." Prof. Membrane said to Zim. Zim sat himself down.

"We understand you are upset but we need to set things straight with your well being. Since your parents are dead, we need to set you up with any existing relative you have. This would be an easy task but apparently we have no matches for you in fact we don't even have your parents information. They had no form of identification on them. What are their names?" Officer Melanky said pulling out his laptop from his brief case.

"Ummmm…" Zim thought for a bit. "Mom was Mom and Dad was Dad."

"We know they were your Mom and Dad but we need to know their real names."

"Oh, Mom's name was Fleta and Dad's name was Roomo." Zim said. Dib hearing this smacked his forehead with his right hand.

'You gave your human parents alien names, you idiot!' Dib shouted in his head.

Officer Melanky typed the names into the computer but nothing showed up for the names; just a blank screen. This puzzled Officer Melanky.

"Earlier we took DNA samples of the victims to find their identities but we had no matches in our records. I thought it would be a lot easier to get the names of your parents but they don't even show up on our computer profile information at all. No Identification cards, no birth certificates not even a social security card. It's like they never existed up until now." Officer Melanky said trying to make sense out of the situation. This made Zim sweat a little. He hoped he wasn't wise enough to realize he was from another planet.

"Ah, I think I know what happen!" Officer Melanky said typing on his computer.

"You do?" Zim said nervously.

"Yep. Your parents were off the grid."

"What?" Zim said confused.

"Yep. Off the grid. See I looked up your birth certificate and saw that you were in fact born here. Here are your parents' names and signatures. Lots of people hack into the government computers to destroy their own identities."

"That's horrible! Shouldn't the government be working on not being hacked?" Dib questioned Officer Melanky.

"The FBI is working on that case." Officer Melanky assured Dib then moved on to Zim. "Yep, they must have destroyed their own information to not be part of the government for some reason."

"That must have been it. They were never right in the head." Zim said glad that he took the time to make his fake birth certificate a month ago.

"That's too bad, now we can't even find a living relative for you to live with. We have no choice but put you up for adoption. Dr. Pooney, ready the papers." Officer Melanky said as Dr. Pooney pulled out his own laptop out of his briefcase.

"Adoption?" Zim shouted to the men. "Zim needs nobody! I can live perfectly fine by myself!"

"Under the law, you can only live by yourself at the age of sixteen. We cannot allow a twelve year old child to live by themselves. We can offer a foster home or-"

"I'm telling you I am capable of living by myself!" Zim continued to shout to the Officer.

"No you are not," Dr. Pooney cut into the conversation. "Now let's see here, okay your papers are ready. Let's get going to the orphanage."

"Orphanage? Why can't I live at my house?" Zim screamed at Dr. Pooney.

"Because you are a minor."

"Dammit! I am not!" Zim shrieked frustrated.

"Wait!" Prof Membrane shouted. "I want to adopt this child!"

"What!" Both Dib and Zim shouted surprised.

"You do," Dr. Pooney said typing on his laptop looking up Prof. Membrane's info. "Great let's see if you are a good candidate."

"Wait a minute!" Zim protested. "You can't just-"

"Well," Dr. Pooney cut in. "You are qualified. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes." Prof. Membrane said.

"No!" Both Dib and Zim shouted.

"It's settled! You are now Zim's legal guardian. Congratulations! The papers will come in the mail" Dr. Pooney said putting his laptop away in his briefcase. Officer Melanky did the same and head out the door. Zim got off the couch and blocked the door.

"Wait! How come I don't have a say in this? I don't want to be adopted!" Zim shouted.

"Well, you already are, enjoy your new family." Dr. Pooney said pushing Zim away from the door.

"We'll let you know when we caught the guy." Officer Melanky said letting himself out the front door with Dr. Pooney. They closed the door on their way out. Zim was utterly shocked.

"What kind of messed up world where you lose your parents and they adopt you new ones on the same day!"

"This one Fake-Son." Prof. Membrane said. Zim then screamed.

"Dad!" Dib said frustrated by the new situation as well. "Why did you adopt him, do you even know what kind-"

"If I didn't, who knows what kind of people he will have to live with!" Prof. Membrane said to his son.

"Oh, crap, does that mean I have to live with you guys?" Zim questioned Prof. Membrane.

"Yes, for now until this whole mess is figured out."

"What? What about Gir and Minimoose?

"They can live with us too." Prof. Membrane assured Zim. Then Gaz walked out of the kitchen wondering why they were screaming. She saw Dib on the couch placing his hand on his forehead shaking his head. Then Dib saw Gaz.

"Oh, no…" Dib said to himself.

"Daughter, meet your new brother." Prof. Membrane said walking up to Zim placing his hand on Zim's shoulder. Zim smiled and waved awkwardly towards her. Dib kept on shaking his head.

"Zim's my new brother!" Gaz screamed to her father. "No way in Hell!"

"Watch your language and yes he is your new brother." Prof. Membrane said making himself clear to his children.

"This is not happening!" Zim said shaking holding his head and shaking it from some horrible nightmare.

"Yes it is. I'm your new father!" Prof. Membrane yelled to him. "You should be grateful that I did adopt you so you can still be an alien with us instead of pretending with total strangers."

"If I was adopted by total strangers, I could have run away. You ever thought about that?"

"And where exactly will you run away too?" Prof. Membrane questioned him.

"To my house, where else?" Zim stated.

"Not if they sell it." Prof. Membrane said to him.

"They can't sell my house, it's mine!" Zim protested.

"Don't you think it would be wise to have me help you with this other than complete strangers?"

"Yes, but you could have still helped without adopting me. Why adopt me? This is not right."

"What's so wrong about it?" Prof. Membrane wondered to Zim.

"It's just I'm Irken. I don't belong with this family. I don't belong anywhere." Zim said ashamed thinking about his banishment.

"Belong is that why you are so upset? Ha, ha, why Zim, you belong perfectly." Prof. Membrane said.

"Huh?" Zim said confused.

"Yes, I'm the crazy scientist, my Son is the para-science kid-"

"It's Paranormal, Dad!" Dib interrupted.

"Oh, whatever, my Daughter is my funny child and you are my new alien son. See, it all fits in perfectly in place. Besides you were always part of the family."

"I was." Zim said still confused.

"Of course, you're always over here all the time eating our snacks and I'm already your doctor." Prof. Membrane explained to him.

"Huh, I guess I saw you as another annoying brother," Gaz said thinking to herself out loud. "It's gonna bug me for a while having two older brothers but I will adjust as long as you stay out of my room and never eat the last of anything because it's mine. If you follow these simple rules then we will get along fine."

"Heh, heh, got cha'" Zim said feeling a little better about his new situation.

"What about me! Huh?" Dib protested. "My bestest friend just turned into my brother. Don't you guys think that's really weird?"

"Bestest friend? Wow I'm touched Dib, I didn't know you cared that much for Zim." Zim joked to Dib.

"Shut up, Zim!" Dib said throwing one of Gaz's stuffed animals at his head.

"Ow, filthy human!" Zim said chasing Dib off the couch and around it.

"I will never consider you my brother, Zim! Not as long as I live!"

"I would never either but we are now so you are better off accepting it!"

"No way! What am I going to tell people? Hello, this weird green kid is my brother, by the way, when it rains, he burns. That's a great conversational starter."

"Idiot! Humans don't need to know that!"

"Ahh," Prof. Membrane sighed sitting on the couch watching those two chase each other. "I think they will adjust."

* * *

Zim thought of this incident while he was walking to Dib's house. He remembered that they have never found the guy and never really received any compensation from the Fun-Time people except for free popcorn for life. The only good thing about the whole situation was that he became a legal member of the human race by obtaining his social security card. He was also able to keep his house by making the deed for it with Membrane's help. Zim kicked at a single stone on the sidewalk then stopped still thinking to himself. He didn't care much for the free popcorn so he refused it at the time; all he wanted was the police to finally catch the guy. Dib turned around and saw that Zim had stopped walking looking down at the sidewalk.

"Are you okay?" Dib asked him.

"Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about something."

"We better hurry or Gaz will pick the place for you." Dib said.

"Oh, it's my turn to pick?" Zim said astonished.

"Yes it is. Hurry, she might pick Bloaty's again!" Dib said running to his house.

"What's with that girl and pizza?" Zim questioned Dib while running.

"I don't know but we better get going!" Dib said as they both ran up to the door. Dib opened it and Zim jumped in to the living room to see that Gaz was already talking to Prof. Membrane.

"Not this time, Gaz! It is my turn and I want…" Zim said not knowing what to say. Prof. Membrane and Gaz stared at Zim with blank expressions on their faces. "Ummm…Let me think about it."

"Chinese food?" Dib suggested.

"No, this is my decision and I want Italian!" Zim decided.

"Oh no, not the Spinach Garden again, they don't even have spinach." Gaz complain.

"Yes, I liked it last time! Can we go there?" Zim asked Prof. Membrane.

"Why not, I liked it there too. Come on kids let's get in the car." Prof. Membrane said. They all went outside and went into the car. Prof. Membrane drove downtown to the Spinach Garden. They entered the restaurant and waited to be seat. The hostess sat them to the farthest corner of the restaurant. They sat down at their table. Gaz and Zim sat on one side of the table while Prof. Membrane and Dib sat on the other side. They looked at their menus.

"Hello there, what can I get for y'all?" The waitress asked them.

"Hi, I would like the pesto pasta noodles, please." Zim ordered.

"Yes, I'll have the Italian style pepperoni pizza, please." Gaz said to the waitress as she wrote up Zim and Gaz's order. Zim became annoyed at Gaz's decision.

"You just had to order a pizza at one of my things, huh?" Zim questioned her.

"Well, I wanted to go to Bloaty's but this place has good pizza so that will due and also a root beer, ma'am." Gaz said to the waitress.

"Of course and what would you like young man?" She said to Dib.

"I would like the stuffed steak." Dib said.

"Oh no, Son, you don't want that, you should try the stuffed chicken, that's way much better." Prof. Membrane suggested to his son.

"Okay, I'll try the stuffed chicken, then." Dib ordered.

"And I'll have the stuffed steak." Prof. Membrane ordered. Dib looked up at his father annoyed.

"I hate you." Dib said. Prof. Membrane just laughed.

"Oh, son, when will you never fall for that? I'll give part of mine if you give me part of yours."

"Okay…Anything to drink?" The waitress asked them.

"No thanks I'm driving. Ha, ha," Prof. Membrane joked.

"Everytime…" Gaz muttered at the lame joke that he uses.

"Ah, ha,ha,ha…" The lady faked laugh kind of getting the joke. "What will you have then?"

"Just a glass of water." Prof. Membrane said.

"I want cola." Dib commented.

"Me too," Zim said. "But could you put a straw in it?"

"Of course, I don't mean to imply but are you feeling okay, young man. You look a little green." The waitress asked Zim. Dib and Gaz snickered at her comment.

"Yes, I'm fine but thank you for your concern." Zim said to her.

"Are you sure because-"

"I said I'm fine!" Zim snapped at her.

"Right then," The waitress said surprised. "I'll just get your order." She ran off to the kitchen.

"Ah, ha, ha,ha,ha,ha!" Dib laughed. "You really scared that waitress!"

"Well, I don't want to be kicked out because they think I have a contagious disease." Zim explained to Dib.

"What's with the straw? You're not a baby anymore." Gaz teased Zim.

"It's to keep me from burning my lips you worm!" Zim shouted at her.

"Kids, tonight is family fun night and we are here to have fun, remember. Reframe from the insults until we get home okay?" Prof. Membrane said to them.

"Okay…"Dib, Gaz and Zim said at the same time.

"Good, so how was everybody's day at skool?"

"My day was okay," Gaz started off. "Today in Science class, this one girl asked me why I had such a weird face so I 'accidently' lit one of the Bunsen burners at her table. It lit one of her pig-tail braids on fire. Here's my note." Gaz said handing the note to Prof. Membrane.

"Oh, Dear," Prof. Membrane said looking at the note. "What did I tell you about passive aggressive behavior?"

"Don't do it if you're going to get caught." Gaz stated.

"Exactly, what you did was inexcusable and sloppy. Does grounded for three days without video games sounds fair?"

"I guess so." Gaz agreed.

"Okay, moving on, Son how was your day?" Prof. Membrane asked Dib.

"It was great! Today in Biology, we dissected a pig. It was really cool. I got to keep the heart." Dib said.

"And where is this heart?" Prof. Membrane asked him perplexed. "I didn't see you come home with a heart."

"I gave it to some guy that wanted it for something." Dib said.

"What did that guy want with a pig heart?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"He said something about wishing he had real human heart so I lied and he gave me five bucks for it."

"So how was your day other than selling a kid a fake human heart?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Oh, it was fine." Dib said.

"Okay…Moving on to the fake son, so how was your day?" Prof. Membrane asked Zim.

"At skool during gym class I shot 20 points in basketball. Then at lunch, I realized I understood math at last, then after skool Mrs. Roster said I was doing well in her class."

"That's good, Zim, she's your other math teacher, right?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Yes, she is. She also said that's she nominating me for Student of the Year, but that's nothing."

"Student of the Year is nothing to sneeze at Zim, you should feel honored."

"Yeah, I guess."

"So how did the dinner go?"

"What dinner?"

"With your tutor's family of course with Mary and her father?"

"Oh, that went fine. I was able to get a free meal and tutoring from it."

"So your tutoring is doing well?"

"Yeah, Mary is a great teacher. I think she is a lot smarter than my current calculus teacher."

"That's good, so what do you personally think about Mary?"

"Well, she's nice, friendly, smart, and funny and hey, what does Mary have to do with anything?"

"Oh, I was just asking." Prof. Membrane said as Dib and Gaz smiled at him suspiciously.

"So, you like this girl, yes?" Prof. Membrane continued on.

"Sure, who doesn't, except for that mean girl that picks on her."

"Do you have any feelings for her?"

"Feelings? What feelings?" Zim questioned Prof. Membrane.

"You know, nervousness, a heavy feeling in your chest but in a good way." Prof. Membrane said. Zim looked at him confused then turned to face Dib.

"Dib, your Dad is speaking crazy stuff." Zim whispered to him. "You need to set him straight, wait! Am I going to die?" Zim asked Prof. Membrane.

"Let me say it, Dad." Dib offered. "Zim, do you love your Mary-Moo-Cow?"

"Now what kind of messed up question is that!" Zim snapped furiously embarrassed.

"Come on, your among family." Dib said awaiting a confession from Zim.

"No, I don't Dib and you!" Zim said pointing to Prof. Membrane. "Why do you need to be involved?"

"I was just curious that's all." Prof. Membrane said innocently.

"That's stupid to think that, besides how can I love anything out of my own species. It would be sick and wrong."

"You can love something of a different species, Zim." Dib said. "I mean look at dogs and human. They are man's best friends."

"And they are going to say that aliens are human's best lovers, I don't think so. She wouldn't like me if I was alien."

"How come?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Because her mother is super obsessed with aliens that's 'how come'. The last thing that girl needs is more alien drama." Zim said then the waitress came along with their meals and drinks. They didn't say much after that. Dib and Prof. Membrane exchanged meals and Zim and Gaz ate theirs. They decided not tease Zim anymore about Mary and talked about Prof. Membrane latest project. The bottomless garbage dump. Capable of eating garbage in a blink of an eye. If it turns out right, it will take a huge chuck out of human pollution. After Prof. Membrane talk about creating giant worms trained to eat garbage, they have eaten their meals and they were ready to go. They paid for the check, left a decent tip and left the restaurant. Prof. Membrane drove to his house. Dib and Gaz got out of the car and entered their house while Zim slowly came out of the passenger seat. Prof. Membrane came out of his car at the same time.

"Thank you for the meal." Zim said awkwardly to Prof. Membrane. "I guess I'll see you as soon as the project is done." Zim said walking in the direction of his house.

"Wait, Zim, may I speak with you?" Prof. Membrane said.

"Sure, what is it?" Zim asked curious about what's on Membrane's mind.

"All I want to say that if you love a human-"

"But I don't" Zim said.

"I know, but what I'm saying is that if you do, you should let the person know how you feel and not let your differences get in the way."

"But wouldn't that be unfair for the person to not know?"

"That's up to you if you want to tell her. She seems like a more reasonable person compared to her mother."

"You're talking about Mary again aren't you, how do you know I'm not talking about an actual cow I'm in love with?" Zim questioned him.

"Just don't let yourself focus on too much of the differences to lose sight of the bigger picture." Prof. Membrane said as he walked off into his house. Zim thought about his advice and decided it wasn't important after all, what does he know anyways?


	18. For the Sake of all Spirits!

Author's Note: Happy New Year! I hope you all had a Happy Holiday! Mine was great! I was able to complete two more chapters of IAWLYROI, so enjoy!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 18: For the Sake of all Spirits!

Zim walked home looking around his neighborhood. He noticed how dark it has gotten. He never really liked winter on this planet. It was always cold and wet. On his home planet, winter only lasted five days. He couldn't believe it lasts three months here. Zim shuddered feeling the sting of the cold on his cheeks. He walked home as fast as he could. When he was finally home, he quickly shut the door behind him before any of the heat came out. When he turned around, he saw that Gir and Minimoose were rolling around the floor in the mashed potatoes that Zim made yesterday.

"Gir! Minimoose!" Zim screamed. They stopped rolling and looked up at him. "That's not what mashed potatoes are for!"

"We know!" Gir peeped. "We wanted to do something fun while you were away."

"Playing a video game is fun, watching a movie is fun, even playing in the front yard whacking each other with sticks is fun, not rolling in mashed potatoes!" Zim explained. "That's filthy!"

"Awww….Master you should try it!" Gir squeaked to Zim picking up a lump of mashed potatoes.

"No." Zim said crossing his arms then he looked down at Gir who was holding the mashed potato lump. Gir pulled his arm back getting ready to throw. "Don't even think about it."

"I'm thinking about it!" Gir warned him. Minimoose squeaked thinking the same thing levitating some mashed potatoes next to his right antler.

"No, guys no!" Zim said running away while Gir and Minimoose chased him around the house throwing massive balls of mashed potatoes. Zim ran out of the living room into the kitchen trying to think of way for them to stop throwing the mashed potatoes at him. He thought of a something clever.

"Oh, no!" Zim screamed grabbing Gir and Minimooses' attention.

"There is no where I can go except for outside! I hope nobody finds me!" Zim said loudly hiding behind the kitchen table and chairs. He watched as Gir and Minimoose ran out the back door. Zim got up from behind the table and locked the back door. Gir and Minimoose heard the back door clicked, turn around and saw Zim waving at them from the back door window. Frustrated by Zim's trick, Gir unzipped his disguise, pulled a laser gun out of his head and shot a beam at the window. Zim ducked from the impact. The laser shattered the glass window. Zim got off the floor and saw the damage.

"What's wrong with you!" Zim snapped opening the back door. "I lock you out and you fire a laser at me!"

"Yes," Gir peeped then became upset. "You weren't faaaaairrrr!"

"So wasn't throwing mashed potatoes around the house," Zim tried to reason to Gir and Minimoose opening the door wider to show the mashed potato balls that were throw on the couch, walls and the T.V. set. Gir and Minimoose stared at the mess then at the window that Gir shot. Gir looked down at the ground.

"Sorry…" Gir said and started to cry. "Wah, ha ha hah ahhah!"

Zim looked down at his robot crying his eyes out. Zim sighed and bent down to check on Gir.

"Its okay, Gir, let's go into the house and check on your intelligence. We'll clean the mess up later." Zim said walking into the living room while Gir followed him. He was about to close the door until he saw that Minimoose wasn't following them. He was still floating outside.

"Minimoose, are you sure you don't want to be inside?" Zim asked him.

"Nya!" Minimoose squeaked and shook his body.

"Oh, fine." Zim said as he closed the back door leaving the back light on for him. Zim walked with Gir in the living room. Zim found a place to sit that did not have a lump of mashed potato on it. Gir hopped on his lap and opened his head for Zim to look at his intelligence chip. It seems to be getting outdated each year without Irken technology to back it up. Zim had to do most of the updating himself to keep Gir from totally going insane. Zim went into Gir's weapon system file and turned it off.

"Well, I'll update you again later; I turned off your weapon system to make sure you don't shoot anyone by accident, though I should have done that years ago. Oh, well." Zim told Gir while he closed his head up and zipped his disguise back on. Gir jumped off Zim's lap and started licking the mashed potatoes off the floor.

"What are you doing?" Zim questioned his actions.

"Cleaning…" Gir peeped.

"Get a rag!" Zim said. "That's disgusting!"

"Okee dokee." Gir said as he ran into the kitchen and grabbed the wash cloth off the kitchens' counter top. He ran back into the living room and started rubbing the mashed potatoes with the wash cloth making the mess bigger as Gir smeared it around the linoleum floor. Zim saw this and grabbed the rag out of Gir's hands.

"On second thought, maybe licking it up would be the better solution." Zim said as he watched Gir lick the floor. "Hmmm…well, at least your eating your vegetables, I'm going to check on Minimoose."

Zim walked into the kitchen and looked out the broken window. He saw Minimoose squeaking loudly in the backyard. He was singing.

"Nyaaa! Nyyaaa! Nyaaa! Nyyyyaaaa!" Minimoose squeaked into the night. Zim thought he was cute but one of his neighbors thought he was annoying.

"Hey, idiots!" The man screamed from his back window. "Shut that damn dog up! We are trying to sleep!" Zim stomped outside furiously to face his neighbor.

"Quit your cry babying! First of all, who goes to sleep at seven anyways and second, he is not a dog! He's a moose! Get it right!" Zim yelled at his neighbor. "Come on, Minimoose."

Zim walked back into his house with Minimoose following him leaving the complaining neighbor disoriented. "The Mooooossseeee…." The neighborhood said walking away from his window.

Zim put on some rubber gloves, filled a bucket full of water and soap, and got the mop to clean up the mess. He gave Minimoose a sponge and he used his telekinetic powers to scrub the mess off the couch, walls and T.V. set. Gir was still licking his spot clean. Zim let him clean that spot. After he was done cleaning up, Zim went to the kitchen, picked up the shard pieces of the glass off the floor and taped up the broken window using a grocery bag as a cover for the hole. After he covered the window, he put away his cleaning supplies and went up to his room to start off where he left off on his reading. He glanced over to his closet and remembered that Gir broke his lock earlier. He sighed and gave up on locking the food away from his hungry robots. There was no point of locking the food in the closet anymore for he was getting paid tomorrow. He just didn't want to replace a broken door too after all they were robots, they could have broken the door down if they wanted to but he guessed that they never really figured that out. He might as well beat them to the blow. Zim went up to his closet, picked up the remaining canned food and other goodies and headed downstairs with them. Gir and Minimoose stared at his master while he was putting the food back into the cabinets. Zim saw them staring at him.

"See, you won, happy?" Zim said as he continued to put food in the cabinets.

"Yes! I like food…" Gir said while Minimoose squeaked as well.

"I know you do. Well, don't make total pigs out of yourselves. I'll be busy reading my book… and maybe sleeping." Zim said as he walked upstairs. Gir and Minimoose looked up at the cabinet and saw the food. Minimoose levitated a can of beans out of the cabinet and handed it to Gir. Gir opened it with his robotic mouth, spat the lid out and started sucking on the can. Zim went up to his room and sat at his desk to finish his English reading. Zim answered the questions from the book then put his homework away. He felt his eyes itched and rubbed his eyelids with his fists. They felt scratchy. He forgot when the last time he actually took them off. Zim went into the bathroom to check on his eyes. He took off one of his contacts and placed it on the sink to reveal his magenta colored eye. Then he took off his other contact and placed it next to the other contact lens. He stared at himself in the mirror at the stranger he has forgotten existed. He looked at his former self half disguised. He saw that he still had his wig on. He took it off. His two black antennas bounced into place. He looked again in the mirror then down at his wig and contacts on the counter of the bathroom sink. He sighed then once again looked into the mirror.

"What the hell am I?" Zim said then left the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Zim awoke to another day of Hi-skool and realized that today was the day he was waiting for since Monday. It was Friday, pay-day for Zim and he was happy. Zim got up, dressed and ready for skool, he went into his closet and noticed that all the food was gone. He remembered that he moved it into the kitchen. He went into the bathroom, opened his medicine cabinet and put in his new contacts. They were like old ones but cleaner. He then placed his wig back on his head. He went down stairs to see what he was going to have for breakfast. When he went into the kitchen he saw that back door was wide open. He felt the cold breeze hit his arms. He walked to the back door and saw that Gir and Minimoose was in one of their neighbors trees at the right corner of his yard. Zim walked up to the tree. He looked closer and saw that they were staring into the deep hole of the tree trunk.

"What are you two doing?" Zim asked. Minimoose squeaked hearing his master and hovered down from the tree to greet him.

"There's an owl in this tree." Gir said quietly staring at the owl snoozing in his home. "It's sleeping…"

"Gir, come down from there. Don't bother that thing. Come inside, its cold out here." Zim said holding his arms and rubbing them for warmth. Gir and Minimoose followed their master into the house. He closed the door and grabbed a brown paper bag. He put an apple, a juice box and a bag of chips into the paper bag and placed it into his backpack. Zim made breakfast for him and his robots. They had cinnamon raisin bagels. Gir and Minimoose had butter on their bagels while Zim had his plain.

"I'm probably gonna be late coming home so you know the drill. No house on fire when I come back!" Zim demanded. They looked at each other then back at Zim.

"How about after you get home?" Gir asked him.

"No never!" Zim shrieked. "You already busted a window; the last thing we all need to worry about is finding a new place to live. So please, behave."

"Okee Dokee!" Gir peeped and ran into the living room to turn on the T.V. He sat on the couch watching his favorite cartoon. Zim turned his head towards Minimoose and saw that he was floating upside down with a goofy smile on his face.

"Okay…Good, I'll be going now." Zim said putting his black jacket on leaving out the front door. Zim walked to his bus stop, got on the bus and went to skool. Zim walked into skool and saw Dib was talking to Gretchen in the hallways. He looked around the skool hallways and saw that the walls were covered with poorly drawn posters saying "Spirit Day is Today!" He walked up to the couple.

"So I guess today is Spirit Day?" Zim questioned Dib.

"What gave you that idea?" Dib joked to him.

"I don't know, the eighty neon colored paper hanging from the ceiling and pasted on the walls might have given me a clue." Zim sarcastically spoke.

"You think." Dib peeped.

"Oh…I'm so nervous…" Gretchen muttered to herself suddenly holding Dib's hand. Dib held hers back.

"What? Do you have a fear of brightly colored paper because I would not you judged you differently if you do." Zim asked concerned.

"No, Zim." Gretchen said. "I dealt with that fear. I'm just really nervous because I'll be performing solo at today's Pep Rally."

"We are having a Pep Rally!" Zim said shocked. "Curse them!"

"Gretchen, you'll do great!" Dib said giving his girlfriend emotional support. "You've been practicing for weeks, I been hearing you practice and you play beautifully."

"I know, I'm usually not nervous like this but this is actually the first time I went solo in front of thousands of people that would make fun of me if I screw it up!" Gretchen panicked.

"Don't worry about it. Look, if the thousands of weirdos are freaking you out, just find me in the crowd and pretend that you are only playing to me. Then you wouldn't be so nervous." Dib said holding both her hands looking into her eyes.

"Well, that sure might be helpful." Gretchen smirked to Dib. Dib then kissed her forehead. Zim looked away disgusted.

"Oh, I gotta get to class." Gretchen said. Dib let her go as she ran to her classroom. "See you guys later!"

"Okay, see ya!" Dib said and waved to her. Zim waved as well. Did turn around to see Zim smirking at him.

"What?" Dib asked annoyed.

"Wow, I didn't know you can be such a softy. Whatever happened to that weird paranormal kid that used to throw buckets of water on Zim?" Zim said poking his shoulder.

"He's still around, he just a lot quieter." Dib responded.

"Oh, sure, well let's get to class before Mr. Holic hunts us down." Zim said to Dib as they walked in the direction of their first class.

"You know what really annoys me?" Dib said.

"What Dib-monster?" Zim asked him.

"Music," Dib said. "Have you ever noticed that some artist are taking beats from greater songs and changing them to fit their own lyrics? Can't they come up with their own beats?"

"I hear that, it's like they're not trying anymore." Zim agreed to his statement. Dib nodded and they walked into their classroom along with the rest of their classmates in Mr. Holic's class. They took their seats and waited for Mr. Holic to enter the classroom. The bell rang and it was time for class. Mr. Holic entered the loud classroom that became silent at his presence. He looked at his students slightly, and then walked further into his classroom. He stood behind his desk as he got ready to address his class.

"Shut UP!" Mr. Holic said to one of his students still talking in the back. "As I was saying, today is Spirit Day so you only get a half day…" The students were happy by the news until Mr. Holic finished his sentence. "…Spending the rest of the day at the Pep Rally."

"Awwwwwww….." The students groaned hearing the horrible news.

'Yep,' Zim thought. 'Another stupid, pointless assembly. That's what we really need to prepare us for adulthood.'

"So you get about thirty minutes in this class before you move on and since no one stopped me from making my speech yesterday, we are a day behind so I am doubling up on your homework this weekend!" Mr. Holic proudly stated.

"No!" One boy screamed. "Anything but that!"

"It's already been done." Mr. Holic said writing the chapters on the board. There were about four chapters.

"Excuse me, Sir!" Zim said raising his hand up waiting to be called on.

"Yes, Zim?" Mr. Holic asked.

"Sir," Zim peeped. "Why are you so evil!"

"I haven't had sex in six years! That's why, now shut the Hell up and copy down your homework!" Mr. Holic demanded.

"That's something I really didn't need to know…" Zim muttered to himself as he copied down his ridiculous assignments.

"Hey, Zim," Dib whispered to him. "Could I borrow a pencil?"

"Sure, Dib-monster," Zim whispered back passing him the pencil. This annoyed Mr. Holic.

"Hey, what are you two doing, passing notes?" Mr. Holic shouted startling Dib making him accidentally drop the pencil on the floor.

"So, you were passing notes, fork them over! Let's see how the class likes hearing about your personal lives."

"But, we weren't passing notes." Dib defended himself.

"Oh yeah, well what's that!" Mr. Holic pointed to the pencil under Dib's desk.

"That's a pencil, Mr. Holic." Dib answered him. Mr. Holic looked down at the pencil as Dib picked it up off the floor to show him.

"Oh, well you two are still getting punished for disrupting class. Extra chapter for the both of you!" Mr. Holic decided.

"But that's not fair!" Zim said surprised by this outcome. "We were only passing a pencil. We weren't disrupting class!"

"Maybe next time you should think twice before helping people, now where was I…" Mr. Holic said turning back at the board. Zim couldn't believe his stupid teacher gave him extra homework because he gave Dib a pencil. He looked over at Dib with a shocked expression on his face, and then Dib noticed Zim's surprised reaction and glared back at Mr. Holic. After Mr. Holic was done summarizing what needed to be done for the chapter work, the bell rang and it was time to leave for the next class. Dib and Zim was about to leave until Mr. Holic called them out.

"You guys didn't forget your extra chapter, now did you?"

"Oh, right…" Dib said while Zim sighed and followed him to Mr. Holic's desk.

"Here's your chapter." Mr. Holic said turning to page 208. The class was on page 167.

"What is this?" Zim said confused by the strange equations. "We haven't even started learning this!"

"I figured you can do a little research since you did waste my time, I might as well waste yours. This will not be counted as extra credit. I'll add this to your grade when the rest of the class gets to this chapter." Mr. Holic said. Dib and Zim glared right through Mr. Holic like a laser. They really wanted his head to explode.

"Stop staring at me and get the Hell out of my classroom!" Mr. Holic waved them off. Then he suddenly held his stomach. "Ah, man, I gotta go badly…" He quickly ran out of the classroom along with the rest of the students. Dib stared at the chapter work in Mr. Holic's text book and then at Mr. Holic's coffee cup. Zim glanced at the cup as well as Dib picked it up.

"Awww, Mr. Holic's coffee." Dib said sweetly. "Looks like he just ordered some extra foam." Dib then spat into his coffee cup.

"Ewwww!" Zim shouted gagging. "Are you crazy? Do you want us to fail?"

"Hey, it's his fault for being a jerk; don't you think he deserves this?"

"Well, he did confuse a pencil with a piece of paper. I guess the poor bastard would be stupid enough to drink spit, pass the cup here." Zim said holding his hand out. Dib handed it to him. "Drink Alien slime, you prick!" Dib laughed at his statement as Zim spat into his coffee. "Now, stir it up so it isn't noticeable."

"I'm on it." Dib said quickly taking the cup out of Zim's hands and stirred it with the metal spoon from Mr. Holic's desk for a much richer flavor. They put the cup back on his desk and quickly exit the classroom before anyone showed up. They walked to their next class.

"Hey, Dib, what did you have for breakfast?" Zim asked.

"Two wild berry pop tarts, a breakfast burrito and a cup of orange juice." Dib answered him.

"Man, that's gonna taste gross!" Zim snickered as they walked outside towards the gym.

By the end of their last classes, the students of Cess Pool View Hi Skool slowly entered the gymnasium slash auditorium for their Spirit Day Pep Rally. The students shoved through the small doors of the gymnasium to find their friends to sit through this bore fest. The music was booming from the orchestra playing the skool's anthem. Zim squeezed through the door and gazed around to find anything resembling the group of people that he grew accustom to. He saw that Gretchen was playing her violin in the band. He was going to say hi, but then he thought it might not be a good idea to bug her while she was playing her instrument. He then spotted Brian in the crowd; he was sitting at the front bleachers, writing in his notebook. Zim went up to him.

"Hey, whatcha' doing?" Zim asked Brian. Brian recognized his voice and looked up.

"Oh, hey Zim, I'm doing my homework." Brian said.

"Homework?" Zim questioned him. "Why?"

"I might as well get it done if they are going waste three hours of our time with this shit." Brian muttered working on his social studies.

"Hey, be nice I heard Gretchen was going to be doing a solo." Zim said to Brian.

"Is that so, well I wasn't meaning the orchestra people, I mean the skool board. They seriously going to have us sit here for three hours watching a bunch of people dance around for the name of Skool Spirit? Couldn't they use this precious time doing something beneficial like take us to a museum or something?" Brian questioned to Zim.

"Well, they could do something like that but you have to consider the fact that they spent all their money buying all that colorful constructive paper to tell us that today was Spirit Day because it is very important that we know." Zim sarcastically joked to Brian. Brian smirked at Zim's comment.

"I see your point." Brain said. "Oh, well. I rather spent my precious time playing videos games anyways."

"Yeah, I would enjoy Spirit Day better if they would send us home right now. I'm serious, if they said, 'Happy Spirit Day, to celebrate we are giving you the rest of the day off so enjoy', I would be a happy Zim." Zim said crossing his arms pleased by his idea of the perfect Spirit Day.

"There you two are!" Cried out a female voice. It was Tina running to Brian and Zim. Following her was Josh, Mary and Dib.

"Hey, this place is too loud!" Josh screamed.

"What?" Dib said not hearing Josh's comment.

"I SAID THIS PLACE IS TOO LOUD, LETS SIT ON THE SECOND LEVEL!" Josh screamed to the group.

"Okay, okay, I hear you!" Dib shouted to Josh. "You don't need to scream that loudly."

"Sorry, I can't stand the chatter from all these people. It like I'm listening to all their conversations at once!" Josh said placing his hands over his ears.

"Don't you already do that with your website?" Dib asked him remembering that Josh had this place bugged.

"I do, but I got so good at it that sometimes it drives me crazy especially at Pep Rallies. Too much gossip coming in at once…."

"You think he's going to crash?" Zim joked to Dib.

"He's not a computer, Zim." Dib said.

"It would be funny if he did." Zim said still watching Josh pace back and forth covering his ears.

"Yes, I guess it would be funny but let's go to the second level, just in case." Dib address the group.

"Agreed, this place is too crowded." Brian said gathering his stuff into his backpack.

"Come along, Kitty Cat," Tina said pushing Josh to the entrance of the second level. "We are going to sit at the second level to retain your sanity."

Dib and Brain followed Tina and Josh to the second floor of the bleachers, while Zim and Mary were left behind. Zim looked down at Mary. She smiled at him.

"Hi, Zim." Mary peeped.

"Hey," Zim said awkwardly. "How was your day so far?"

"Good, it was quick." Mary said pleased. "How was yours?"

"Well, in math, Mr. Holic was being an asshole as usual giving Dib and I an extra chapter assignment along with four other chapters."

"Oh, my!" Mary said surprised. "What happened?"

"Well, I was passing Dib a pencil and one thing lend to Mr. Holic believing we were passing notes so for disrupting class, he is giving us a chapter we know absolutely nothing about." Zim explained to her.

"So you're going to need my help?" Mary asked him.

"That's for sure; do you want to come over later?" Zim asked her. "If not, we can always do the homework some other day. It doesn't matter to me."

"Yeah, can I come over Saturday instead?" Mary asked him. "I have to volunteer at the orphanage after skool. They are having one of their bake sales again so they need extra help."

"You really like volunteering at that orphanage, huh?" Zim assumed to her.

"Yeah, I do, they are really friendly. I'm one of their main tutors there. I like working with the kids." Mary said thrilled about her after skool program.

"I didn't like it there that much, all the kids liked to tackle and drool on me." Zim shuddered at the thought of those kids touching him with their sticky fingers.

"They must have liked you a lot." Mary said to Zim walking up to the second level of the gymnasium.

"I guess, but I didn't like them at all." Zim said following her. They joined their group sitting at front row of the bleachers. Zim sat right next to Dib as Mary sat next to him.

"So you want to do the homework Saturday?" Mary asked Zim again.

"Oh, yeah sure, the best time would be around two in the afternoon." Zim answered her.

"Okay, I will come over at two." Mary agreed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Dib asked them.

"Oh, Mary's gonna help me with the chapter work, so if you need some extra help, we'd be working on that." Zim said to Dib.

"That would be great, actually," Dib admitted. "I have no idea what to do with that mystery chapter. Is that okay if I join you guys?"

"Sure," Mary said. "I can help you out."

"Cool, what time should I come over?" Dib asked them.

"Tomorrow around two at my house." Zim told him.

"Okay, I'll be there." Dib said. Then they heard a loud screech coming from the microphone. This made the students cover their ears and cringe their teeth. They became silent and focus on Principal Bitters who was standing at the podium.

"Good, now that I got you little snot monkey attention, we can start this corporate misery lifting 'Pep' Rally started. I want to say before we start is that enjoy this assembly because we are only doing this once a year and believe me once a year is good enough, now bring out the cheerleaders."

A bunch of girls came bouncing out from the front row bleachers. One the first level screaming their heads off dressed in their gray and white uniforms shaking their white pom-poms.

"Hey, we are the Cess Pool View Elephants and we got Spirit, yes we do!" Screamed the Captain of the Cheer leading squad. "We got spirit, how about you!"

The students on the bleachers yawned and didn't answer her. Then one kid stood up.

"Does purposely feeding your friend a sandwich with a worm in it and watching him eat it count as 'Spirit'?" The kid said.

"Frank!" Scream the kid that he fed the sandwich to. "I can't believe you did that to me…Again!"

"Well, believe it, Moot, believe it. That's what you get for hitting on my sister." Frank said sitting down.

"Okay…" Said the Captain Cheerleader. "We are going to get you guys pumped up with some mad beats and dancing." She said turning on the stereo system. The girls started dancing to the song "We Got the Beat." They moved around dancing to the song with their pom-poms arms. The dancing coordination was horrible.

"Oh, God," Josh exclaimed cringed seeing the horrible dancing. "What were they thinking using this song for their dance moves? Totally doesn't fit the song."

"Oh, they are doing it all wrong!" Tina said. Dib just placed his head in his hands not wanting to watch this.

"It's hard to do homework with that music boomin' in my ears. It wouldn't surprise me if I went deaf after this." Brian commented.

"Please someone break their leg, please someone break their leg…" Zim chanted over and over again crossing his fingers. Mary watched the performance confused by their dance moves. By the end of the song, the cheerleaders posed and waited for the students to cheer. A few of them clapped afterward.

"Screw you all!" The Captain said. The group left the floor of the gymnasium to their assigned bleachers.

"Thank you Cheer leading squad…That was horrible." Principal Bitters said at the podium. "About a month ago, one of our students won second place in this state's Violin Bash. Even though she had come in second place, she had brought some honor to our skool unlike most of the students I know which I mean all of you. She would like to perform her second rated song to you. Isn't that nice? So be quiet and give your full attention to Gretchen performing Vittorio Monti's Czardas. Gretchen stood up from her seat as she ready her stance to perform her song. All the students yawned and were ready to fall asleep until Dib stood up and started clapping.

"Whoa hoo! Go Gretchen!" Dib screamed from the back row.

"Yes, destroy that violin!" Zim screamed as well as Mary, Josh, Tina and Brain clapped for Gretchen.

"Wait, she's not supposed to break her instrument." Dib said to Zim. He thought about Dib's statement for a moment.

"Hmm…So this is not rock and or roll?" Zim asked.

"All of you sit down or suffer my wrath!" Principle Bitters shrieked to the gang. They sat down quickly; Gretchen smiled at her friends and began her solo. She placed her violin on her shoulder and fiddled her bow upon the strings. Her music filled the gymnasium as her peers listen to every wave and emotion she placed into each note. Her body bent and moved with the melody as her hypnotized them into a place of peace at on part of her song and then into excitement as she fiddled her bow on the strings. She continued this gesture until she reached the end of her song. When she stopped, she placed her violin off her shoulder, then her classmates clapped and cheered at her performance. She bowed her and took her seat. Her peers were still clapping.

"Wow, Dib, you were right." Zim said clapping. "She does make that thing come alive. That was great! How come she only came in second place?"

"Some freshman from Westfield Hi Skool performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons without breaking a sweat."

"So, she didn't sweat, what's so great about the four season's song?"

"Each season is ten minutes long." Dib stated.

"Oh," Zim peeped. "Oh, wow!" Zim realized that the solo must have lasted for forty minutes.

"Yeah," Dib said. Then the rest of the students stopped clapping and sat back down at their seats waiting for the next event.

"Thank you Gretchen, that was not horrible, but I'm afraid this next event might torture your souls in embarrassment so give it up for your Teacher's Glee Club." Principle Bitters muttered into the microphone. All the teachers in the room gathered to the middle of the gym. They were wearing matching blue sweaters. Their students stared at them awkwardly.

"Teacher's Glee Club!" Josh shouted a bit. "Oh, no!"

"So they are bad?" Brian asked.

"Yes, they are so bad that I had to get rid of my bugs in the teacher's lounge so I wouldn't have to hear them practice."

"It's true; I had to remove the bug myself because he was so afraid to come near that place after what he heard."

"Josh, you are over exaggerating no one can be that bad." Dib tried to reason to Josh. Josh just shook his head. Josh's gesture scared Dib. They turned their heads towards their teachers as they saw all them line up and ready for their big performance. Mrs. Roster took the microphone to address the students.

"Hi, kids." She peeped. "Didn't think we would be cool enough to have our own Glee Club now did ya?"

"We didn't know that was humanly possible!" One of her students from the bleachers.

"Well, it is and we all know you love that new song that is out, the one with the Bad Romance…" Mrs. Roster thought about the song.

"Please, God!" Tina screamed. "Don't let them ruin Lady FaFa!"

"So, gang," Mrs. Roster said to her teachers. "Let's hit it!"

Mr. Holic turned on the stereo system then held his mouth and ran out of the gymnasium. Dib and Zim saw this and smiled to each other giving themselves thumbs up. The massacre of their once loved song has begun. Their teachers started dancing to the song. Some were good dancers while the others were obviously horrible but they all had one thing in common. They were all tone death (even the choir teacher). The students of Cess Pool View Hi Skool covered their ears, closed their eyes and some of them blanked out during the performance. Zim on the other hand had a better idea to escape the madness. Zim twitched his eyeball, stood up and looked over to his friends. They looked up at him.

"I cannot stand this horrible mockery of a performance anymore!" Zim shrieked to them. "I'm going to do something that I haven't had to do in a very very very long time. I'm gonna skip. Who's going to join me?"

"I will!" Tina peeped. "I'm done listening to these posers! They are my teachers for Christ's Sake! I thought I hated them but I didn't think I could hate them even more!"

"I'll skip too." Josh agreed with Tina. "I'm reliving the nightmares."

"Dib," Zim spoke to him. "Are you in?"

"No, I think I'm going to stay." Dib decided. Zim looked at him funny.

"Why?" Zim questioned him.

"I don't want to leave Gretchen here alone. If she's forced to stay, then I will too." Dib reasoned to Zim.

"Wow, you're a much braver human than I thought." Zim said. Looked over at Brian.

"Oh, I'm staying too." Brian said. "I have to meet someone after skool, but I found some ear plugs in my backpack, so I will be fine."

Zim nodded then the rest of the group looked over at Mary who was trying to understand what her teachers were singing about.

"Filthy Earth to Mary-Moo-Cow!" Zim screamed to her to get her attention. Mary turned her head in the direction and saw that her friends were staring at her.

"What is it?" Mary said awkwardly. She touched her cheek with her right hand. "Is there something on my face?"

"No, Mary Moo Cow," Zim chuckled. "We are going to skip, you wanna join us?"

"I don't know..." Mary said. "Wouldn't we get caught by the teachers?"

"All the teachers are down there singing their hearts out so I doubt we will be caught." Zim assured her. "Come on Mary, it would be fun!"

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea…" She said looking down at the gym floor. She became very afraid. "Oh my God, Mr. Hetchen is going to do DFF! I'm outta here!"

Zim looked at Mr. Hetchen dance on the pads with his round self agreed. Zim, Mary, Tina and Josh sneaked out of the bleachers leaving Dib and Brian behind.

"Good luck!" Zim peeped to them.

"Shut up." Dib said. Zim smirked then left with his group from the gym into the hallways. They walked through the hallways and were about to make it down the stairs to the first floor until somebody spotted them. Josh recognized the kid in the orange stash and so did Zim.

"Oh, no," Josh said. "Is it?"

"Yea," Zim answered his question. "It's Keef."

Keef saw Zim and the rest of the crew and started walking towards them. Zim looked at the boy as he started smiling and walked quickly towards them. They were about to walk away but Keef has already caught up to them.

"Hi, Zim," Keef said.

"Oh, hey Keef." Zim said awkwardly stepping backwards.

"Man, isn't it a great day to have a Spirit Day or what?" Keef screamed. "I wish I was in there with the rest of the students but they said they wanted me to be the Hall Monitor for the day. Yep, just me. All by myself!"

"That's great…" Zim said trying to be interested in his conversation. "You know, you could enjoy the Pep Rally if you wanted to. I don't think anybody would care if you sneak in."

"Really?" Keef said getting his hopes up. "You really think so?"

Zim looked at his friends for support on this on.

"Oh, yeah," Josh said. "Nobody would care."

"It would be like you're invisible." Tina jumped in.

"Oh, I already know how that feels like." Keef said happily. Tina looked at the boy strangely and felt a little sorry for him.

"The teachers are dancing in the gym, you could probably join them." Mary suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Keef peeped to her. "I'm a great dancer!"

"Okay, Keef you do that." Zim said walking off with his friends.

"Hey," Keef said grabbing Zim's attention to turn around and face the odd boy. "Can I hang out with you?"

"I don't know, it depends. Do you understand the concept of personal space?" Zim asked him. Keef giggled.

"Personal space?" Keef giggled some more. "Ha, ha, what does _**that**_ mean?"

"Then no." Zim peeped and walked off joining his friends. Tina, Josh, Mary and Zim walked off skool premises successfully without anyone else noticing. When they reached their bus stops, Mary looked back at the skool filled with excitement.

"This is so exciting!" Mary said. "I never skipped before."

"Really?" Zim said surprised. "I skipped a lot of classes in Jr. Hi Skool. I just got up and left the classroom."

"Did you get in trouble?" Mary asked.

"I did, but I told them I was depressed and they didn't bother me after that until Prof. Membrane received a phone call from the skool telling him they were concerned about my 'well being'. Then I had to stop skipping. I thought I wouldn't have to skip again but I really didn't want to watch a bunch of teachers dance around like idiots to that God awful song."

"Hey, I liked that song…Well I used to." Tina said looking down at her ipoop. She saw that the device was going to play that song next and quickly switched to a different song.

"Well, we got out…" Zim said looking around seeing how empty the bus stops were. "Now, what are we going to do?"

"We could go watch a movie," Josh suggested. "I heard that 'Madman on the Loose' was good."

"No," Mary disagreed. "I don't like scary movies."

"I don't like them either." Zim admitted as well. "They are pretty stupid. You think anyone would have enough sense to get out of the house or use that rifle they display in the living room to shoot their potential killer."

"I know, I know," Tina said jumping up and down. "How about we go to the mall, there is a kick-ass arcade that has old skool and new games we can play."

"Let's go there!" Josh agreed with his girlfriend.

"Hey, that might be fun." Zim smiled at the idea. "Plus, my work is around there so I can pick up my check and cash it."

"I'm up to anything as long as it doesn't involve scary movies." Mary said. They nodded and walked to the bus stop that would take them to the mall. They waited a few minutes until their bus pulled up to the stop. The bus driver wondered why these kids weren't at skool but didn't bother to ask because it wasn't part of his job so he let them board. They sat in the back quietly awaiting for them to arrive at their designated spot. The bus pulled up to the mall and they went off the bus. The City Mall was huge on the outside but when they entered it, it was jammed packed as if the building wasn't huge enough to hold their many shoppers. Zim was surprised to see how many people went shopping at the mall around skool hours. He hate to see it after. They walked up to the directory to find the arcade. Josh pointed to the name and found it on the map.

"Ah," Josh exclaimed. "Now I remember it's on the second floor next to the store with the funny statues. Follow me."

Josh and Tina leagued the way while Mary and Zim followed behind. Tina pulled out her ipoop and started jamming to her favorite song. She turned around and saw that the two looked kind of bored so she decided it was a good excuse to have her share her taste of music.

"Hey, Mary," Tina peeped turning around to face her. "You just have to listen to this song. It's freakin' amazing!"

"Okay, let me listen." Mary said as Tina handed Mary her earphones. Mary held one to her ear and heard she had the volume up really high. She placed it in her ear and quickly took it out.

"That's nice, but way too loud for my taste." Mary said handing her earphones back.

"Spoiled sport," Tina said disappointed by Mary's reaction, then focused her attention on Zim. "What kind of music do you listen to Zim?"

"Oh, mostly hard rock," Zim said walking by the record store.

"Well, then you have to listen to this song." Tina suggested. She took her earphones from her ear and was about to place it in Zim's ear until she noticed he didn't have one, in fact she noticed he didn't have any ears at all.

"Ummm…" Tina murmured awkwardly. "Since when did you have no ears?"

Josh heard Tina's weird question, turned around and looked at Zim and saw it was true. Tina and Josh looked suspiciously at Zim waiting for an answer while Mary awaited one too. Zim glanced at each of them and came up with his story.

"Oh, that, yeah, I was born without any ears, its part of my skin condition." Zim lied scratching the back of his head. Mary thought it was true because she assumed it was so and didn't bother him about it while Josh and Tina wanted more out of him.

"I never heard of any skin condition that genetically alters no ears." Josh said thinking to himself.

"Well, it's out there; I'm living proof of it." Zim said trying to continue walking.

"What's your skin condition called?" Josh questioned him. This made Zim stop. He never came up with a name for his supposed condition before because nobody asked.

"Ummm…it's called…Ah, Rythefungusmenavitas." Zim said thinking of the clever name.

"I never heard of such a deformity like that." Josh said.

"It's extremely rare, so it's very uncommon to hear of such a genetic deformity like this one so don't do any research on it because…It will be hard to find but I assure you that it exists oh yeah, it exists alright." Zim rambled to Josh. This made Josh even more suspicious and even curious about his condition.

"Hmmm…" Josh hummed to himself looking at Zim's head.

"So how can you hear if you have no ears?" Tina said looking at Zim's head as well. Zim had an answer to that.

"I still have eardrums, due to my condition, since I had no ears; the skin grew over my ear orifices." Zim said. 'I didn't pay attention in Human Anatomy for nothing' Zim thought pleased by his witty answer.

"Do you have a hard time hearing?" Tina asked.

"No, not really, the skin grown over the orifices are thin so I can hear perfectly." Zim said.

"I feel kind of silly not noticing before," Tina said. "Sorry if I'm being rude."

"No, no it's okay." Zim assured her. "It's no big deal; people ask me these questions all the time."

"Does that get annoying?" Tina asked.

"Yes, it does." Zim said gravely remembering having to explain this lie to every teacher, student or weirdo on the bus who has questioned his appearance. It surprised him that none of his friends asked him this before but he knew it was a matter of time. He only wished he was better prepared for Josh's questions. Zim walked away from his friends as he saw the escalator to the second floor and hopped on it. Tina, Josh and Mary hopped on it as well. After hearing Zim's explanation, Mary wondered to herself why she never asked Zim about his condition before. She did notice that he had no ears or nose from her last visit, but then she remembered she was thrown off by Zim's night terror that she forgot to ask. She shrugged her shoulders and began curiously looking over at the back of Zim's head. Zim felt that someone was staring at him and turned his head quickly. Mary glance her eyes away pretending to look at something else. Zim turned his head foreword again and Mary continued to stare. When they reached the second floor, Tina jumped off the escalator and ran towards the arcade.

"Yippee!" She shrieked. "It's time for DFF!"

"Oh, please, Tina can't we play something else?" Josh assisted but Tina was long gone in the arcade waiting for Josh to join her at the DFF machine. Josh sighed and walked towards the entrance of the arcade. Mary and Zim walked into the arcade as well and looked at all the gaming machines they had. Some were good games but some of the machine looked really out of date and not playable anymore. Mary looked around and the games she wanted to play were broken so she was out of luck. Zim had a look at the alien shooting game and found it offensive.

"Look at this, Mary." Zim said peeved off. "They make aliens look all evil and scary like they are going to eat your flesh. Like an alien would want to eat your disgusting bodies anyways! Gross!"

"Yeah, that is pretty stupid," Mary said. "That alien that escaped my mothers' cult seemed friendly enough. I wonder how he might be doing. I hope he didn't get captured again."

"I think the little fellow is fine." Zim said placing his hand on her shoulder.

"You think so?" Mary asked looking up at him.

"I know so." Zim said confidently.

"How?" Mary said looking at him strangely. Zim quickly took his hand of her shoulder in shock.

"I know so because… I believe that alien is smart. He wouldn't be dumb enough to be capture again. I hope." Zim said annoyed by another possible capture if Skoodge even escaped this planet.

"Maybe you're right. The alien could be safe and probably found his way home by now."

"Yeah…in about five months or so…" Zim muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Mary questioned Zim.

"Nothing." Zim quickly denied.

"Well, I'm kind of bored here and those guys seem to be having a good time. How about we do something else?" Mary said looking over at Josh and Tina playing DFF.

"Sure, why not." Zim agreed.

"Any ideas?"

"We can hang out at the orphanage." Mary suggested.

"Really, now?" Zim said annoyed by her suggestion. "I don't want to hang out with a bunch of sticky children."

"Ah, pretty please, I want to make sure those guys have enough baking supplies for the bake sale without having to take multiple trips to the super market. It would be a lot easier on me." Mary begged Zim. Zim looked at her and sighed.

"Oh, okay, I guess I will come, but can we go by my work first? I want to pick up my check." Zim negotiated to Mary.

"Sure, Zim." Mary agreed.

"Okay," Zim turned over to see Tina and Josh still playing DFF. "Hey, we are taking off, see you later!"

"Hey, wait!" Josh screamed but they already left. "When do I get a break?"

"Until we beat our last high score." Tina answered him. Josh knew this was going to take hours.

* * *

Author's note: That's right, poop cola has taken over the digital music player industry! Mwh ha ha!


	19. Bunnies and Beanstalks

Author's Note: The beginning was my sister's idea...

* * *

It A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 19: Bunnies and Beanstalks

"kkjmhnbgbvtggbbt" Zim said.

"Mmjhytrrdfs" Mary said back.

"Okay now that we stopped talking in gibberish, let's go to my work." Zim said walking out of the entrance of the City Mall with Mary. They took a left from the mall, crossed the street and in a couple of minutes they were at the Mart-Wall. Zim walked into the store, went into the back and saw his supervisor, Mr. Happy. Mr. Happy was a considerately a grumpy person. Who can blame him; he's about forty years old, with a rounding figure and balding fuzzy salt and pepper hair. His hair matched his dark complexion perfectly. Zim waved to Mr. Happy. He looked at Zim curiously wondering why he was here.

"Hey, Zim," Mr. Happy said straightening his paperwork. "Whatcha' doing out of skool?"

"Today was a half day so I want to pick up my check." Zim told his supervisor.

"Ok," He said finding Zim's check through the pile of paperwork. "Here you go."

"Thanks see you later." Zim said walking out of Mr. Happy's office. Zim walked out of the store and met Mary at the entrance.

"That was quick." Mary said surprised to see Zim out of the Mart-Wall so quickly.

"Yeah, my supervisor and I like to keep the small talk sort," Zim said. "Well, I need to go to the bank quick and cash this, and then we can go to the orphanage."

"Alright…" Mary said following Zim to his bank. Zim went across the street again to get to his bank. Mary stood outside while Zim entered. A lady greeted him.

"Welcome…Oh my God!" The lady said looking at Zim. Zim walked pass the lady annoyed. The lady went up to Zim again. "Sir, are you sick or something? If so we have to get you to the doctor right away!"

"I'm not sick Lady, leave me alone!" Zim snapped at her getting the attention of another bank teller who knew Zim.

"What's going on here?" Asked the bank teller to her co-worker. Then she saw that she was freaking out about Zim's appearance. She took her co-worker to the side and explained his condition to her. Zim saw them talking about his condition and felt a little offended. They went up to Zim.

"I'm so sorry Sir about my reaction earlier." She said to him.

"Yes, she's kind of new here, please forgive her." The bank teller asked of Zim.

"I don't care if she's new or not, that was really rude, now if you excuse me I would like to cash my check." Zim said waiting in line for his turn. When it was his next turn in line he gave the teller his check and ID.

"Okay, Sir." The teller said. "I noticed that you only have a checking account, would like to open up a saving account, it would be beneficial to you."

"Well," Zim said still mad at the bank tellers. "I was considering opening up a savings account but because of what's her name again…Oh, yeah that's right, Carol. Because of Carol's reaction towards me, I really don't feel like talking to you people. You can thank Carol for that. Good day."

Zim walked out of line with his money and ID, put them in his wallet and placed his wallet in his front pocket.

"Stupid humans…" Zim muttered under his breath as he opened the door to greet Mary.

"What's with that look?" Mary said noticing Zim's fowl angry face.

"Oh, nothing, just stupid bank people, come on, let's go to your orphanage to check on the little slime monsters." Zim said to her.

"They are not slime monsters." Mary defended.

"Yeah, I know, they are germ factories." Zim joked to her.

"Not even that, they wash their hands." Mary said.

"Only when you are looking but if you're not, they will wipe the snot off their faces with their sticky fingers. Then they will come up to you and want to hold your hand, the next thing you get is a hand full of snot."

"That only happened three times…" Mary admitted.

"My point exactly." Zim said crossing the street with Mary. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Mary wondered.

"Why do you like volunteering there?" Zim asked. Mary thought for a minute before answering.

"When I was twelve, I had to do a summer volunteer project so my Dad suggested that I should volunteer at the orphanage because I was good with little children and I did the whole summer. In fact, I enjoyed it so much; I even started volunteering after skool."

"I see, but what made it enjoyable for you? When I volunteered there, the children were unbearable to me except for when we were playing Simon Says, but that's a whole other story."

"I guess what made it so enjoyable was the fact that they were so welcoming to me. When I was in skool, I really didn't have any friends so when I went to the orphanage; I made lots of new friends. Especially Sister Ana."

"Who's Sister Ana?" Zim asked her curiously.

"She's a nun that lives at the orphanage with the children. I knew her for years in fact she taught me a lot of things. She taught me how to make great cookies and cakes, how to use a sewing machine. She even helped me with my homework when I was younger. Of course, I tutor the kids myself nowadays. I guess you would say that she is kind of a mentor to me."

Zim thought to himself about Mary's statement and nodded.

"Oh, I see what you mean; I guess Prof. Membrane would be my mentor, huh?" Zim asked her.

"I guess he would have to if he's your legal guardian, otherwise he wouldn't be doing his job." Mary joked to Zim.

"Yeah, and lately he's been doing his job a lot." Zim sarcastically joked. Mary snickered at his comment.

"So that's what I do in my free time." Mary said. "I guess that's kind of lame, huh?"

"No, I think it's pretty neat." Zim admitted. "I wish I had some free time, all I ever do is work and whenever I want to do something with Dib, he's always out with Gretchen. I wish I had a hobby to enjoy."

"What about your inventions?"

"I have to be honest with you; I haven't had a descent idea in years. All those inventions on my floor are complete failures. Hell, I couldn't even make a lock, a freakin' lock! I put a lot of effort into it and Gir broke it with one great pull. I think I'm too well adjusted to my current living situation that I can't make anything anymore. I'm a complete failure…" Zim said lowering his head.

"No, you are not," Mary said looking up at him. "Maybe you're being a little too harsh on yourself. You might be stressed out that you can't think of nothing or you can't make it work right. What you need to do is wait for the right inspiration to hit ya."

"It has been a long week hasn't it?" Zim questioned Mary.

"It has for all of us." Mary said sighing.

"Damn, what a crappy week." Zim said thinking of his adventures from the past few days. Mary and Zim turned a corner to the left of the street and they were at the orphanage. They opened the gate and entered the courtyard of the orphanage. There were a lot of little kids running around. Mary saw Sister Ana watching the children and waved to her. Sister Ana waved back. Zim had a good look at Sister Ana. She looked like she was in her thirties. She had a fairly tan complexion to her face and light blue eyes. She wore the typical nun gown, hat and all. Sister Ana was tall but medium built to her body. She was obviously getting old.

"Hello, Mary," Sister Ana said greeting her. "What a surprise, I wasn't expecting you here until three. Why are you here so early?"

"It was a half day today so I thought I should come a little early to better prepare for the bake sale." Mary explained to Sister Ana.

"That is a good idea; I should probably start getting the ingredients around…" Sister Ana thought to herself. "Oh," she said noticing Zim standing next to Mary. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is my friend Zim; this is the guy I was tutoring after skool, he's kind of bored and wondered if there was anything he would like to help with."

"What? Zim never agreed to that!" Zim said confused.

"Well, if that's the case, I do have something for you to do. It's reading time for the kids after recess. Would you mind reading to them?" Sister Ana asked holding the book, Jack and the Beanstalk in her hands. Zim looked at the book and then at Sister Ana and Mary. They were both smiling at him.

"Fine," Zim said snatching the book out of Sister Ana's hands.

"Okay kids," Sister Ana shouted to them getting their attention. "Recess is over; it's time for story time."

"Yaaaaayyy!" The kids screamed running into the building. Zim was impressed by her discipline over the children.

"Dang, lady," Zim said. "You run this place like the back of your hand."

"Thanks…" Sister Ana confused by Zim's compliment. "Why don't you go ahead in there and read to them."

"By myself?" Zim questioned them.

"Yes, Mary and I are going to get ready for the bake sale and all the other nuns are busy."

"What if they attack me?" Zim said worried.

"They are just children, Zim," Mary said. "They're not going to attack you."

"Speak for yourself, I'll do it but if I don't make it out alive tell Gir to stay out of my stuff and Minimoose to stop cheating at go-fish." Zim said walking off to the building. He entered the building and walked towards the room where it was the noisiest. Zim went into the room and saw the little kids jumping and rough housing around rolling on the floor. Zim cringed at the sight.

"Hey, be quiet Worm Babies!" Zim shouted holding the book up in the air for the children to see. "It's story time!"

"Who are you?" One little boy peeped to him. "Where's sister Ana?"

"She's getting ready for the bake sale, my name is Zim and I'm your little twerps reader for the day so be quiet if you want to enjoy this book because I am not reading this again." Zim demanded.

"Who cares?" The boy continued talking. "Sister Ana read that book to us about ten times already."

"Well, consider this number eleven." Zim said opening the book to the first page. Zim never heard this book before and started to read a few pages to himself. "Let's see here…do dee do, kid goes brings cow to market to sell for food, blah, blah, blah, what? Damn, this kid is stupid. Who in their right mind would trade a cow for some beans?"

The kids looked at Zim strangely as he continued to read the next page.

"Yea, I'm glad your mom is yelling at you, you stupid kid. What? You're planting the beans? How the Hell are you going to eat them if they are in the ground?"

The kids heard Zim and began to chuckle at his observation.

"What the beanstalk is growing 120 feet from the ground overnight! This doesn't happen in real life, it would be murder to your reasoning skills if I read this to you little squishes. Here, I can tell you a better story on the top of my head…" Zim said thinking of a great story to tell and he did. The time he actually saved Earth to destroy it.

"Okay I got it!" Zim said. "Once upon a time, there was a little alien that wanted to destroy your planet, his name was…Zam and he was an invader. A great invader and with his trusty robot companion, they were on their way to victory until one night when Zam was studying the other invaders through his telescope to see how they were doing with their planets."

"Shouldn't Zam be worried about his own planet instead of spying on the other invaders?" A little girl asked interested Zim's story.

"He was…He just…needed to find some good ideas to help conquer Earth. This planet is hard to conquer, ya know?"

The little girl nodded.

"Okay, anyways, when he looked through his telescope, he noticed that it was getting statically like when you watch T.V. and the channels don't want to work for you. It sucks because you want to watch your favorite show."

"We understand." Another little boy said. "Our T.V. been broken for weeks."

"Exactly, so Zam assumed that his robot broke his telescope and called his name. 'Gar!' He shouted. The little robot came in. Gar looked at his master stupidly. 'Did you break my telescope?' 'No.' The robot peeped. 'You lie!' Zam accused him. Then the Earth quake. They had an earthquake and it broke Zam's telescope into a big pile of scrap metal. Zam wasn't sure what he saw on the telescope but it was suspicious to him so he had to go out and search for another telescope."

"Wouldn't he be caught by the police because he's an alien?" An older kid said listening to Zim's story.

"He would if he was stupid enough to go out without a disguise on. He dressed like a skool kid, he had fake brown eye contacts on and brown hair-colored wig while his robot was dressed in a cat suit."

"Did he look like Garfold?" One little girl asked smiling holding the stuffed orange Garfold cat.

"Yes…He looked like Garfold…Anyways he looked for a better telescope all over town until he had no choice but to go to his worst enemy's house, Dib, the annoying human that ruins Zam's plans for world domination. Now Zam hated Dib with all his guts, heck it was the last person he would go to for help, but Zam was desperate, so he rang his door bell and demanded the use of his telescope. Dib told him to go away and poked a big lamp at his head and made him runaway."

"Zam ran away because he was being poked in the head with a lamp?" The kid questioned him. "That's just stupid."

"Hey," Zim snapped at the kid. "The lamp was pointing and it started to hurt Zam!"

"Okay, okay," The kid backed off. "Finish the story."

"Ya,ya!" The rest of the kids peeped.

"Very well, so because the stupid human didn't want to help poor Zam, Zam had to go up in space to investigate the static with Gar. When he started up the ship and it went out of control flying directly into the sky at the speed of 90 miles per hours until they crashed into something. When Zam looked up he saw it was the sky itself they crashed into for you see the planet was stolen by the Planet Jackers, an alien race that would throw planets into their sun to keep it alive and burning. Zam explained to Gar that the Earth was captured in a giant metal bubble with T.V. monitors on the inside to trick the humans to think it was the sky. Gar just wanted Zam to tell him a story about Giant Pigs. Zam ignored him. Zam flew his space ship out of the bubble and went to see the aliens that captured his planet that he was suppose to conquer. Not Planet Jackers! Zim! So he tried to make them see it his way and of course they ignored him pushing his ship aside with their ship that was pulling the planet."

"Did the Jackers capture the moon too?" The little girl asked him.

"I don't know, little me think about it…" Zim said. "Oh, yeah, yes they did. So Zam thought that it would be better to confront one of them in a fight while Gar watched the ships' jet pods cut the Earth free from the bubble. Zam knew he wouldn't fail this time and needed to distract the Jackers to make sure his plan worked. So he challenged one of the Jackers to a great battle that Zam won of course with his superior kick-ass karate moves! So the Earth was saved and all for Zam to conquer, the end."

"Yay!" The kids clapped and squealed.

"Bravo!" Sister Ana said clapping, standing behind him. Zim turned around and saw that Mary was listening to the story as well. He became embarrassed.

"Oh, I didn't hear you guys come in." Zim said blushing.

"We were going to ask you if you would mind watching the kids a little longer but you looked like you were so into telling your story that we didn't want to interrupt." Sister Ana explained.

"That was a great story, Zim, too bad I only got to hear the ending." Mary said disappointed.

"Well, I can tell you some other time if you want." Zim said awkwardly. "There are lots of adventures of Zam I made up. Yep, totally made up, in my mind. It's not real."

"I would like to hear them some time." Mary said delighted. Zim smiled at her and then he felt a little hand grab on to his. He looked down at the little girl holding the stuffed Garfold cat.

"Can Zim play with us a little longer, pretty please!" The girl asked Sister Ana.

"Yeah, Zim is cool!" Another boy said.

"Well, that's up to Zim," Sister Ana said. Zim looked around the little kids to see that he was admired and who can blame him, he was Zim after all.

"Alright, I guess I can stay a little longer and just to tell one more story…" Zim said.

"Yay!" The kids screamed and sat back down on the floor awaiting another adventure of Zam.

"One this adventure of Zam, Zam and Gar has to fight mutant alien babies, so once upon a time…" Zim continued with his story as Sister Ana and Mary exit the room to get back to the kitchen.

"Wow, the kids sure have taken a liking to your friend." Sister Ana said impressed.

"Yeah, I knew they would, he's such a great guy and all." Mary said blushing. Sister Ana turned around and saw her blushing cheeks. Sister Ana smiled suspiciously at Mary.

"Oh, you like him, don't you?" Sister Ana accused her.

"What are you talking about?" Mary questioned nervously at Sister Ana's statement walking into the kitchen. There Sister Maggie, one of the rounder older looking nuns was there, listening to their conversation.

"Oh, Mary, don't deny it." Sister Ana said. "I can see it in your eyes. You're in love!"

Mary was shocked by her accusations and backed away.

"I'm not in love…" Mary denied.

"Then why are you blushing?" Sister Ana questioned her.

"Because you are embarrassing me!" Mary shouted to her. Sister Ana snickered.

"Leave the poor girl alone Ana, besides the last thing that girl needs to be is in love." Sister Maggie said while taking the bags of flour out of the pantry.

"And why is that?" Mary asked Sister Maggie. Sister Maggie sighed at her ignorance.

"Falling a love with a man too young and quickly leaves a woman nothing but trouble." Sister Maggie explained. "You wouldn't want to turn up like your poor mother now, would ya?"

Mary heard this, and quickly bowed her head. She then looked back up at Sister Maggie.

"I will never be like my mother." Mary said and walked out of the room.

"Mary, wait!" Sister Ana said but she started walking away.

"I'll be back for the bake sale." Mary muttered as she left the kitchen. Sister Ana looked at Sister Maggie in disgust.

"Why would you say such a thing?" Sister Ana questioned Sister Maggie.

"I was being honest with the girl, the last thing we need is a bunch of unwanted children born into this world." Sister Maggie spoke her philosophy coldly. Sister Ana shook her head gravely at the demented woman and ran off to find Mary.

Mary walked off wanting to leave the place for a little while; Zim went out into the hallway after he was done telling his story. He was going to try to find Mary in this place until he saw her storm off right by him. Zim was confused by her actions. Zim followed her.

"Hey, Mary-Moo-Cow," Zim said shouting at her trying to keep up to her walking pace. "Hey, wait up, what's wrong?"

"Nothing…" Mary peeped bitterly as she stormed out of the building into the courtyard. Zim followed her then ran up to her as she left outside the gate. Zim opened the gate and stood right in front of her. Mary stopped her pace and looked down at the sidewalk.

"Mary, why are so upset?" Zim asked concerned placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I don't want to talk about it…" Mary said then looked up into Zim's eyes. He saw that she looked very hurt. He never saw such a sad face come out of this smiling girl that it hurt him as well somehow. Zim wondered in his head what to do to bring her to smile again and then he got it.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine," Zim said and smiled at her. "But I think I know a place that might cheer you up!"

"Huh?" Mary said.

"Come on," Zim said grabbing her hand and started running. Mary felt that Zim was really strong and had no choice but to run with him if she didn't want to get dragged.

"Where are we going!" Mary shouted at him. Zim didn't answer and suddenly stopped at the destination. Mary bonked her head on Zim's back as he stopped. Zim let go of Mary's hand. Mary rubbed her head and looked at the store that he dragged her to. The windows displayed puppies for sale.

"You brought me to a pet store?" Mary questioned Zim.

"Yes," Zim said pleased. "Humans like fuzzy cute animals. I always see people smile whenever they hold these creatures."

"Well…" Mary said looking at the window. "They are pretty cute; I guess they would keep my mind off what's bothering me."

"Victory for Zim!" Zim shouted raising his right arm. "Let's go inside."

Mary and Zim walked into the pet store to see what kind of animals they had for display. Mary wanted to check out the aquarium area but Zim wanted to stay away from that place when he saw some water on the floor.

"Too wet." Zim said. Mary nodded and they went further into the store to see the parrots. Zim and Mary entered the glass room to check out these noisy birds.

"Are these the kind that copies anything you say?" Zim asked her.

"Yes, I think some of them are." Mary answered him.

"Great, I always wanted to do this." Zim smirked and took a deep breath.

"I am Zim. I am Zim. I am Zim. I am Zim. I am Zim. I am Zim. I am Zim." Zim kept repeated to the birds loudly. Mary was shocked by his attempt and didn't think it would work until he had one bird repeating his phrase.

"I am Zim." One bird said. Then another said the phrase. Before he knew it, he had the whole flock saying his name.

"Ma ha ha ha ha ha ha! I did it!" Zim said pleased. "Dib said I couldn't do it but I did it. I can't wait to see the look on his face when I tell him."

Mary smiled on how silly Zim was acting and decided to leave the parrot room. She walked over to the free range cage to see the little bunnies hopping in the fenced-in area with straw covering the floor. Mary was watching them hop around keeping close to their mother. She bent down into the cage and petted one of the bunnies. She turned her head and saw one bunny that was all by itself in its own cage. The bunny was white and had grey and black blotches on its body. Mary walked over to the bunny.

"Hi, why are you by yourself little rabbit?" She asked it. The bunny looked at Mary and scratched its long floppy ear with its foot. It looked up at Mary. Mary thought it was cute and wanted to pet the little fellow but the cage rings were too small for her to reach her hand through so she stuck her finger in the cage. The bunny sniffed her finger, then hopped to its water bottle and drank out of it. Zim found Mary looking at the creature.

"So there you are." Zim said standing right next to Mary. "Why did you leave Zim in the parrot room?"

"I wanted to check out the bunnies, look at this one, Zim," Mary said bending over to face the bunny. "Isn't it cute?"

Zim looked at the scruffy little thing. The rabbit looked a lot older than the other bunnies in the store.

"If you say so."

Mary saw the price range on the bunny.

"Wow, this bunny is selling for only ten dollars, that's cheap." Mary said.

"There might be something wrong with the thing, let's go check out the tarantulas!" Zim suggested and walked off thinking Mary was following, but when he turned around, he saw Mary still staring at the thing. Mary went up to one of the pet store clerks.

"Excuse, me," Mary said getting the young man's attention. His name tag said Joey. "Why is that bunny for ten dollars?"

"We had that rabbit for sale because it's been here ever since I started working at this store a year and a half ago. Every time we try to introduce him to potential customers, they always buy the cuter, younger looking ones and that bunny is not the most lovable one himself. I think he only let me pet him one time but that was because I was changing his dirty water. I'm afraid if we don't sell the bunny soon, we would have no choice but to euthanize it."

"Pet shops are not allowed to do that!" Zim said questioning the clerk's methods.

"It's is now under the 'No Animal Left Alive' Act passed last November. The Act states to minimize the population boom of stray animals, the pet stores must sell an animal within 90 days or we would have to euthanize it. True, the pound used to be the only ones to allow euthanize animals but under the new law, we are allowed to do it as well. It's too bad, we would like to keep him a little longer but his 90 days are almost up."

"Why don't any of you guys take him home?" Zim questioned him.

"He doesn't like us much…" Joey said. Zim looked at the man and stared back at the bunny. He had a good look at Zim, and hopped to the other side of the cage. He can see why this bunny had a hard time selling.

"Well, there's nothing we can do for the horrible little monster, come on Mary," Zim said pulling on her arm trying to get her away from the rabbit. "I want to see the hairy spiders!"

Mary ignored Zim's whining and placed her finger in the cage one last time. The bunny hopped over to see the finger and then it rubbed his nose against it. Zim saw this and was in awe.

"Wow," Zim said pointing to the bunny. "That thing really likes you."

"Yeah…" Mary said scratching the bunny's head. "I would buy the bunny and bring him home myself but my Dad is allergic to animal dander. I hope the little bunny finds a home soon."

Mary removed her finger from the cage. The bunny then looked up at Mary as she walked off. Zim looked at the bunny and then at Mary walking over to the reptile area. Zim thought of an idea. He ran over to Mary.

"You said you wanted to look at the tarantulas, right?" Mary asked him.

"No, not anymore, let's ignore them for now," Zim said grabbing Mary's hand and bringing her over to the bunny's cage. "How about I take him home?"

"What do you mean?" Mary asked him confused.

"You pay for the expenses of the bunny and I'll have him stay at my house. You can visit him whenever you want." Zim suggested.

"And you wouldn't mind?" Mary said happily.

"No, how hard can one rabbit be?" Zim said confident with his new responsibility. "He should be easy to take care of compared to Gir and Minimoose."

"Oh thank you, Zim!" Mary said hugging him. Zim felt her embrace and was happy as well. Mary became embarrassed by her actions and quickly let go.

"Ummm… I'm gonna go buy that bunny." Mary said walking up to the pet clerk.

"You do that." Zim said blushing watching Mary talk to Joey at the counter.

"I would like to buy this bunny, please." Mary said the store clerk. He was surprised to hear these words at last.

"Alright! That will be ten dollars even." The clerk says holding out his hand. Mary pulled a ten dollar bill out of her skirt pocket. The clerk took the bill, placed it in the register and handed her the cage where the bunny was living in for the year and half.

"Here you go." The clerk said. Mary took the cage.

"Do I have to pay extra for the cage?" Mary questioned him.

"No, the ten bucks included the cage, also what is in it. The water bottle, etc. He likes living in his own cage. He doesn't like socializing with the other rabbits. Just a heads up if you decide to get another."

"Okay, thanks for the tip, how much is the rabbit food?"

"Five bucks for this kind." Joey said holding the medium size bag of rabbit pellets. "It's his favorite."

"Okay, here's five dollars."

"Sweet," Joey said taking the money, placing it in the register and giving her the food. Mary placed the food on the ground to look into the cage of her new friend. Zim went up to Mary to see the bunny as well.

"Hi, little guy," Mary said greeting the bunny. "My name is Mary, and well…I guess I get to name you, huh? Does he already have a name?"

"Oh, yeah, we call him Mr. Frosty due to his cold attitude, but you can name him whatever you want, I didn't think he liked that name too much."

"So Mary, what are going to name him?" Zim asked looking at Mr. Frosty. Mary thought to herself and then looked at her rabbit.

"I think I'm going to name him…Slippers." Mary decided.

"Slippers?" Zim questioned the new name of her rabbit.

"You know, like the little bunny slippers." Mary explained to Zim.

"Oh…" Zim said thinking of the slippers people put on their feet for bed time. "Mary, you do know that you can't wear this rabbit on your feet, right?"

"It's a name, Zim." Mary stated. "I know the differences between animals and footwear."

"Okay as long as you know." Zim said. Mary looked at her watch and panicked.

"Oh, look at the time," Mary peeped. "I have to get to the orphanage."

"You're going to go back there when they made you upset?" Zim questioned her.

"Well I'm not upset anymore thanks to you besides it's my duty to help Sister Ana and those kids out. It would be a selfish of me to let my emotions get in the way of my duty." Mary said holding the cage. Then she realized something.

"Oh, I can't take Slippers to the orphanage. They don't allow animals in the building." Mary said then she turned over to Joey. "Can you hold him for me for a little while; I'll come by later to pick him up."

"Sorry, that's against store policy." Joey said.

"Oh, please, just for a little while." Mary asked.

"Sorry, but the last time someone said they would come back to pick up later, they change their minds, and would want a refund. My supervisor doesn't allow me to do this anymore."

"I see… Zim, could you take him home?"

"I can't. I have work in an hour."

"Well, if you can't take him home, I will have to give back your money…" Joey said reaching into the register.

"Hold up." Zim said taking out a ten dollar bill out of his pocket. "Perhaps Former President Hamilton can convince you to let Slippers stay a little longer without your supervisor knowing his presence."

"I don't think President Hamilton would save me the trouble of having to be lectured by my boss."

"No?" Zim said putting the ten dollar bill back into his pocket then pulling out a twenty. "Then maybe Andrew Jackson would be the wiser?"

Zim held out the bill with two of his fingers in the direction of the store clerk. Mary was surprised to see Zim was bribing him. He looked at Zim's money and then glanced to his left and right.

"I'll hide the rabbit in my car." Joey said taking Zim's twenty dollar bill. Mary smiled and handed Slippers to Joey. He took the cage out to his car. Mary looked at Zim feeling a little guilty.

"You really didn't have to do that…" Mary said.

"I had to if you wanted to keep your pet."

"Since Slippers wasn't that popular to begin with, I could have gotten the refund and paid for him again when I got back from the orphanage." Mary explained to Zim. Zim stood a blank thought for a minute until he realized what Mary was saying. He bribed Joey for no reason.

"Oh, crap!" Zim said shocked. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I don't know," Mary said. "I was going to tell you but…you just looked so cool."

"Awh! Just great! Twenty dollars down the drain!"

"I'm sorry Zim. I promise I will pay you back."

"Oh, no…it's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it was my stupid mistake in the first place. Besides consider this payment for your services in tutoring me. I know your Dad probably bugging you about why I'm not paying you."

"Yeah, he is."

"Consider this payment."

"It is. So what time are you going to be home so I can drop Slippers off? I don't want to intrude if no one is going to be there."

"I'm probably going to be working late so you can go in my house whenever, I don't care. I think Gir and Minimoose is still going to be there. You can even stay a little longer to play with the little fellow. I'm sure Gir and Minimoose would like you to introduce their new roommate."

"Yes, that's probably a good idea." Mary said having to teach them how to hold a rabbit correctly.

"Okay, listen carefully; if that store clerk doesn't give you back that rabbit, you let me know and I will kick his ass."

"You don't need to be violent."

"Trust me, it's the only way people like him cooperate. He's shifty for taking my bribe."

"You're just as shifty because you offered the bribe!"

"I know, I'm dealing with my own animal, just let me know if there's any trouble."

"Got it." Mary said and nodded.

"Okay..." Zim said. "Here he comes."

"Well, Slippers is hidden well in my back passenger seat, I checked his water and food bowl. He should be fine there."

"Okay I will be back at five." Mary said.

"Great."

"Alright, I'll be back, see you later Zim." Mary said running out of the store to get to the orphanage. Zim waved Mary good bye and then looked over at Joey. Joey stared at Zim curiously.

"That bunny better be alive when she comes back." Zim threatened the store clerk.

"Oh, it will be alive alright. Your money insures its safety, though a little help from Lincoln would be appreciated." Joey said hoping to get more money out of him. Zim sighed at his statement and placed his elbow on the table.

"No, I think Jackson would do just fine after all, we wouldn't want someone to get hurt from this whole situation especially her."

"Why, what makes her so special?" Joey asked curiously at his statement.

"I really don't know myself but somehow I feel attached to her, so attached that I would kill ANYONE who makes her unhappy! Do you get what I'm getting at?"

"I most certainly do…And it scares me." Joey smiled nervously.

"Good. I'm glad you understand. I hope I don't hear her crying over the death of Slippers or the last thing you'll hear is the heart beating. Ahhh, well, it's time for me to leave. I hope I don't hear from you soon." Zim said leaving the pet store.

"heh, heh, heh…" The store clerk giggled nervously.

"Hey, Joey, are you okay..." One of his co-workers asked him.

"I need to go out to my car!" Joey frantically screamed as he ran out of the store.

* * *

Author's note: I had a fun time writing this chapter! Well here's a segment that I wrote a couple of months ago. It's about Mr. Holic after skool hours. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit this into the story, but since this chapter was pretty short, I decided to add this in anyways... Consider this a side story.

A Moment with Mr. Holic

Mr. Holic was on his way to the bus stop to get himself home from a long day of teaching moronic children when he passed by the field. He noticed a bunch of kids were hanging out behind the track field bleachers. He walked into the field to investigate.

"Hey!" Mr. Holic screamed. "What do you think you are doing behind those bleachers?"

Mr. Holic caught the attention of the three young boys smoking. They panicked when they realized they were caught. Before Mr. Holic could reach them, two of the boys threw their cigarette packs over the fence and ran while one boy stood behind to wipe his put his cigarette butt out on the bleachers foundation. Mr. Holic caught the boy placing his hand on the kid's shoulder.

"What do you think you are doing with these death sticks?" Mr. Holic questioned the boy. "Do you want to die kid? Well, do you?"

"Sometimes…" The boy admitted.

"You're not dying today, give me your cigarettes!" Mr. Holic said holding out his hand for his pack. The boy reluctantly did.

"I have the right to report you, but this time I'm giving you a warning. Don't ever do this again, got it!"

"Uh-huh…" The boy murmured.

"Yes, Sir!" Mr. Holic demanded.

"Yes, Sir!" The boy quickly peeped.

"Good. Now get out of here before I change my mind!" Mr. Holic screamed at him. The kid took his advice and ran off. Mr. Holic dug out a lighter out of his front coat pocket and lit up a cigarette from his collected bounty. He inhaled the smoke from his mouth and exhaled it out of his nose.

"Works every time." Mr. Holic said to himself pleased. Then he walked over to the gate, opened it and retrieved the packs of cigarettes that the kids threw over the fence carelessly.


	20. Adventures ofAgent Mothman and Space Boy

Author Note: This chapter took forever...

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 20: The Adventures of Agent Mothman and Space Boy

Zim had about an hour to kill before he started work. He had nothing better to do but to hang around the park watching the street performers make a mockery out of themselves for spare change. He thought him and Gir did a better job compared to these jokers. After forty five minutes of watching them perform, Zim headed into work and punched in. His work for today was stocking the isles and he didn't mind it at all. It was a lot easier than dealing with complaining customers. Zim stocked his shelf happily not knowing who was going to show up. The Mart-Wall's sliding front door open to reveal our big-headed teenager. It was Dib. He knew that Zim worked today and wanted to see if he would like to hang out after work since he was pretty bored. Of course in this type of situation he would usually hang out with his girlfriend but Gretchen had to go to her grandparents' dinner party. Dib wasn't invited. It was family only. This frustrated him to point that he wanted to bug Zim about it, but he thought of a better idea. He entered Mart-Wall looking for Zim. He walked around the store scanning each isle until he found Zim in the canned soup and vegetables section. Zim was stocking his shelf grabbing each can from his cart while an old lady next to him was trying to grab a can off the opposite side of the shelf. She was in the store's mobile cart reaching for a can with her grabber reaching aide. Dib was about to greet Zim until he saw something very unusual. Dib saw the old lady use her grabber to purposely knock the can off the shelf. The can hit the floor making a clanking sound catching Zim's attention. Zim looked over to the can.

"Would you mind picking that can off the floor for me, please?" The lady asked.

"Ummm…That was on the floor, I can get another one from the shelf." Zim suggested but the old lady shook her head.

"No, it's still good. Just pick it up off the floor." She said. Zim bent down to pick the can off the floor while the lady stared at Zim. She grinned. Dib held in his laughter as he watched the old lady checking Zim out. He grabbed the can and stood up, and then another can drop off the shelf. Zim once again bent down to pick that can. He placed the cans in the old bat's cart.

"Wow, you seem to be dropping a lot of cans today." Zim said to her and she chuckled. Dib chuckled as well.

"Yeah, I get clumsy in my old age and lonely…" She muttered.

"Okay…" Zim said awkwardly getting back to his work. She thanked him for his help and drove out of the isle to the next one. Dib laughed out loud walking further into the isle. Zim recognized his laughter and turned around to see it was Dib.

"Dib-monster?" Zim questioned his appearance. "What are you doing here? And why are you laughing?"

"Zim, you-aah ha ha ha ha ha!" Dib kept on laughing.

"What?" Zim said annoyed.

"Zim, that old lady was checking you out!" Dib spat out while laughing.

"What? Her?" Zim shouted looking around to see if she was around. "Nu-uh!"

"She was! I saw her! She knocked that can off the shelf on purpose to check out your ass!"

"No way!" Zim said offended by Dib accusations.

"Yes, she did, believe me. When you bent down she was staring at your ass. It was disturbing…and really funny."

"My ass was up in the air of course she's going to stare at it, it doesn't make her a pervert, Dib-stink! You and your perverted mind… " Zim muttered and went back stocking.

"Didn't you think it was a little suspicious that she wanted you to get that particular can off the floor even though she could have grabbed for another one?"

"She probably didn't want to waste her effort for nothing."

"Then she 'accidentally' knock the same brand of canned food while you were still getting the other one, come on Zim, I know you're a lot smarter than that."

Zim thought for about what Dib was saying.

"She did mention she was lonely…Oh my gosh, she was checking me out!" Zim said shocked.

"Oh, yeah…" Dib said and nodded.

"I never have been so violated in my life!" Zim said furiously embarrassed by what happened to him.

"Well, look at the bright side Zim, at least somebody finds you attractive." Dib smirked at Zim. Zim wanted to strangle him.

"Why you stupid Dib-monkey!" Zim said coming towards Dib. Dib laughed and ran away from Zim. Zim chased Dib out of his isle to the shoe department. Zim was about to throw a pair of shoes at Dib until Mr. Happy saw him.

"Zim!" Mr. Happy shouted. Zim heard him, dropped the shoes and turned around to see his supervisor glaring at him. He smiled awkwardly while Dib did the same.

"What are you doing?" Mr. Happy questioned him.

"Nothing, Sir!" Zim answered him.

"Get back to work!" Mr. Happy demanded. "I'm not paying you to goof off with your friend."

"Right away, Sir!" Zim saluted and walked back to his working station as Dib followed snickering.

"Hey," Zim said turning around facing Dib. "Why are you following me?"

"I don't know." Dib admitted. "Bored, I guess."

"Can't you hang out with Gretchen?" Zim suggested.

"She's at her Grandparents' house." Dib said.

"Oh, well, good luck with your boredom, I have a shelf of canned noodles that needs to be stocked." Zim said standing next to his shelf getting ready to continue stacking.

"Wait!" Dib said making Zim stare at his annoying friend. "Can't we hang out after your done working?"

"I dunno. What are we going to do?"

"Haven't quite figured that out yet…"

"Why do you want to hang out so badly? It's not like you were interested in hanging out before."

"I know and that's why, we never hang out anymore."

"We had dinner together with our family yesterday."

"I mean not technical brothers but as best friends."

"We spat in that teacher's coffee earlier, remember?"

"I mean as Agent Mothman and Space Boy."

"Oh, no," Zim said recognizing his nickname. "Not that again!"

"We defiantly have to go on a case as the unstopped paranormal team. It's been way too long."

"I thought you gave that up years ago?"

"I did, but it's still a hobby of mine."

"Do you do this with your girlfrien-" Zim said then was cut off by Dib's ranting about the good old days.

"Yes, alien and investigator, the days of solving case, exposing frauds and finding even more mysteries."

"I would like to forget those days…" Zim murmured.

"Why," Dib wondered. "We had fun!"

"No, you had fun dragging me along making me communicate with those alien wannabes dressed up cheap costumes."

"You had fun ridiculing them." Dib pointed out remembering Zim's harsh words to the pretender.

"Oh, yeah, I made him cry, but that doesn't mean I still want to do it!"

"Come on, you owe me!" Dib said pointing to him.

"I owe you what?"

"For ditching me at that Spirit Pep rally!"

"Hey, I asked if you wanted to go but, no you stayed for your own free will. I can't be blamed for that!"

"But, Zim you don't understand! The Pep Rally was horrible, just horrible after you guys left. When the teachers were done singing, they had a spokesperson come in telling us that drinking and driving was bad!"

"But it is." Zim agreed thinking back to when he tried flying Tak's ship. "It's the stupidest thing anyone can do and believe me, I tried it and I'm not doing that again."

"I know it's bad, but he spoke his speech in song."

"What?"

"Yeah, he had dancers too. I had to watch while Brian ignored them with his earplugs on, that lucky bastard."

"What's with everybody dancing and singing?"

"Beats me, but it was awful!" Dib said terrified. Zim sighed knowing that if he kept on talking to Dib, he would never be done with his work.

"Look, if I do this, would you leave me alone so I can finish my work?"

"Of course," Dib peeped.

"Then fine. I'll be done in an hour."

"Good, I have a sure case we can solve! It's about-"

"Save it for later!" Zim interrupted Dib.

"Okay see you later." Dib said leaving the isle. Zim sighed relieved to have Dib leaving him alone so he can finish stocking. He was glad that he wanted do something with him, but Dib always seems to have bad timing with this kind of thing.

"Well, looks like I have plans, but wasn't I suppose to be doing something after work before going home?" Zim pondered to himself. "It was about meeting someone…Oh yeah, oh no!"

Zim couldn't believe what he did to himself. He forgot that he was supposed to meet Steve's older brother, Todd, to get his beer. This usually wouldn't be a problem only he promised Prof. Membrane and Dib, that he would not drink again until the human age of twenty-one and if he ditched his resource, he would be denied beer. Zim wondered what to do about his dilemma. He thought about talking to Steve about scheduling for another day, but his work looked so busy with all those people hungry for sandwiches. Zim was still thinking of a solution after he punched out and walked outside to meet Dib. Dib leaned against the store's wall waiting for him.

"It's about time." Dib said annoyed pulling a small notebook out of his cloak's pocket.

"Okay, so what's the case?" Zim asked him half interested.

"We are going down town to investigate the case of the haunted shoes." Dib said all spooky-like.

"Huh?" Zim said confused.

"The haunted shoes," Dib repeated himself. "Every Friday night at the Garden Square, there are shoes that walk all by themselves freakin' everybody out. It's a very interesting case."

"That's all you can come up with!" Zim shouted at Dib's curiosity. "A haunted shoe case?"

"Hey, the paranormal phenomenons are at slim pickings nowadays." Dib defended the case.

"Oh, okay," Zim agreed and came up with an idea for his dilemma. "But, first, I have to go somewhere."

"Where?" Dib questioned him.

"You're not invited." Zim stated.

"What?" Dib said shocked.

"It's a private affair." Zim stated keeping it secret. Dib became suspicious by Zim's lack of description of this location.

"Oh, no!" Dib shook his head realizing what Zim was up to. "You are not ditching me."

"No," Zim denied it. "I'll be right back, I swear."

"No, you won't." Dib said not believing him. "You'll ditch me like the time we were investigating the chili cheese hot dog stand that was serving ghost meat."

"I'm not going to ditch you," Zim tried to assure backing away from Dib. "I just need to go my separate way for a little while. You stay here."

Zim walked off but Dib caught up and stood in front of him.

"Nu-uh, I'm not falling for that," Dib said shaking his head. "It can't be that private to not have your best friend tag along."

Dib got him there, but Zim wasn't going to give up that easily to get his beer. He had to distract him somehow to get away. He saw Prof. Membrane's lab in the distance behind Dib.

"Look!" Zim said pointing to the lab. "Mutant Space Cows are coming out of Prof. Membrane's Lab! I never seen such huge utters!"

"WHERE!" Dib yelped turning his head around trying to find the flying cows. Zim ran off as soon as Dib was distracted into the crowd.

"I don't see any…" Dib said turning to see Zim wasn't there. "Hey!" Dib looked around and spotted Zim turning into the corner of a building on the other side of the street. Dib growled angrily at himself for falling for Zim's trick and began chasing after him. Zim ran across three intersections without waiting for the cross walks to say walk. He ignored them, avoiding the cars and ran to his designated alleyway to meet Todd. Zim turned around pleased to see that he lost Dib and walked further into the alleyway. It was dark due to lack of sunlight but he was able to find his way. There he spotted Todd.

"Hey," Todd said. Todd was very different compared to his brother Steve. Todd had brunet long hair, bulking medium built body and was at average height. He put out his cigarette as soon as he saw Zim and showed Zim the case of beer that he wanted. They began the transaction.

"Hey, how much do I owe you?" Zim asked taking out his wallet from his front pocket.

"The usual." Todd said nonchalantly.

"Okay." Zim said taking two twenties out of his wallet. He was about to give Todd the money until Dib spotted Zim exchanging with Todd.

"What the-" Dib shouted startling Zim. Zim turned around to see Dib crossing his arms. He looked furious. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Would you believe buying Ninja Star Cookies?" Zim said smiling awkwardly.

"Yeah, I'm a girl scout." Todd said tagging along to Zim's lie. "Give me the moneys."

"Zim, "Dib said disappointed. "I thought you stopped drinking. We promised Dad we wouldn't drink until we were twenty one!"

"I don't remember promising that!" Zim quickly denied.

"Yes you did!" Dib shouted at him.

"It doesn't sound like something I would agree to." Zim continued to deny.

"You totally did!" Dib continued to argue.

"Ooo, lovers' quarrel." Todd smirked.

"You stay out of this!" Dib and Zim shouted together at Todd.

"I can't believe you would do this, Zim!" Dib said angrily.

"What's not to believe, I like beer, and beer likes me. It was inedible that I wouldn't keep myself away."

"Are you an alcoholic?" Dib questioned Zim. Zim just laughed at him.

"No, no, don't be ridiculous." Zim said. "I just like drinking it that's all. If I was, I'd by wasted twenty four-seven."

"I guess that would be true, but I still can't believe you lied and for that I am telling."

"What?"

"I'm telling on you."

"What are we in preschool or something, I don't care." Zim said getting ready to give Todd his money.

"If you give him that money and buy that beer, I'll tell Dad and he will send you to AA!"

"AA?" Zim questioned Dib stopping him from giving Todd the money. Dib was starting to annoy Todd. "But I'm not an alcoholic."

"Dad wouldn't care; he told me that's what he's going to do if you started drinking again." Dib continued. "He would send you anyway just to punish you to see how it's like to be around real alcoholics talking about surrendering to a higher power."

"But I don't believe in God." Zim said.

"Atheist!" Todd yelped pointing to Zim but they ignored him and kept talking.

"Doesn't matter, they would try to find a way to cure you and if you didn't complete the class, Dad was going to disown you."

"What, really, he can't be serious." Zim said in disbelief.

"He's freakin' serious, man!" Dib said. "Now you have to make a choice, buy the beer and deal with AA or we can pretend this whole thing never happen and go find the haunted shoes!"

Zim thought for a moment looking down at the money in his hand. He had no idea how his drinking has turned into a problem that they were willing to put him into AA.

"Well, are you going to buy the beer or not." Todd said becoming impatient.

"No, I won't. I don't want to get in trouble." Zim told Todd putting his money back in his pocket.

"I can't believe this shit," Todd shouted to Zim walking angrily towards them. "I stand here listening to you fags argue about your stupid ass problems waiting to get paid and I don't even get a cent for my troubles?"

"I'm sorry you wasted your time, but I'll pay for the trouble of you delivering the beer but I won't buy it." Zim said to Todd.

"No, I don't care about that anymore; I'm going to beat you guys up for the crap you put me through. In matter of fact I think my friends are waiting outside. Hey, Dave, Yook, Luke and Kevin, come in here for a second!"

On Todd's command, four of his friends walked into the alleyway wondering why Todd was calling for them.

"What's up?" Dave said. "You look pissed."

"These clowns are not going to pay!" Todd explained to his crew. They became angry as well.

"What? Where are we going to get our money to pay Mary-Jane, man?" Yook said then looked at his hands. "Oooo, my hands are amazing, just look at them!"

"That guy is high out of his mind, isn't he?" Zim asked pointing at Yook staring at his hands opening and closing them together.

"Zim, I would be more concerned about the guys that are going to beat the crap out of us…" Dib said backing away towards Zim seeing how angry they were.

"Aw, man we are going to mess you up you little high skoolers for fooling with our Bro." Kevin said punching his fist into his hand.

"Hey, let's take their money after we beat them up, heh heh," Luke suggested.

"Hey," Todd said. "That's a great idea!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Kevin, Yook and Dave agreed.

"You can't do that!" Dib protested. "We'll tell the police."

"And tell them what; you got robbed because beer transaction between minors gone horribly wrong?"

"No," Zim butted in. "We'll lie and say that you jumped us!"

"Zim, you moron!" Dib said backing up towards the middle of the even angrier mob provoked by Zim's statement. Zim saw that there were four men to the entrance of the alleyway while Todd was blocking the other side. Zim looked for a way out behind Todd but it was a dead end.

"Hey, Dib," Zim muttered to Dib who looked terrified. "Have you ever fought multiple opponents before?"

"No, the only person I fought was you, and how would I know how to fight a mob?" Dib thought for a moment then became shocked. "Don't tell me you know how?"

"Just cover me, I have my paycheck and I'm not about to lose it." Zim said as he raised his fists up getting ready to battle. Dib raised his fists up nervously as well as Luke and Kevin came towards Dib. Yook screamed as he charged at Zim getting ready to punch him. Zim heard Yook coming, turned around, grabbed Yook by his jacket and threw him on a couple of garbage cans. Yook moaned as he lifted his head up.

"Dude…" Yook moaned and lay back down stunned by his pain.

"Nobody treats my little brother that way," Dave said as he punched Zim in the face. Todd punched Zim a couple of times and kicked his knee into his body forcing Zim on the ground. Zim stumbled a bit and managed to get himself up.

Kevin threw a punch at Dib, but he dodged it backing up to the wall. Luke then punched Dib in the stomach making Dib hit the wall as he fell. Dib stood up again.

"This is way too easy," Luke said mocking him kicking Dib in the stomach, Dib yelped from the pain. Zim heard Dib.

"Dib," Zim said as turned to see Dib on the ground blocking Luke and Kevin's kicks with his arms. Zim was about to help his fallen friend until Todd grabbed Zim's shoulder and punched Zim in his right eye. Zim landed on the concrete from the impact and laid there for a minute.

"Looks like his knocked out cold." Todd said pleased.

"Yeah, that punch was brutal!" Dave said excited to witness that punch. "How are you guys doing with that dork?"

"He's not even putting up a fight." Kevin said as picked up Dib by his shirt getting ready for his final blow. Dib saw that Zim was on the concrete knocked out cold as Dave and Todd laughed at him. Luke laughed as well.

"Looks like your buddy thought he could kick Todd's ass, well he couldn't. Todd was on the Hi Skool's boxing team. He still knows how to punch."

"Yeah, I'm pretty good at it."

"The only thing your good at is being a crook." Dib stupidly remarked. Kevin punched him for that. Dib head banged against the wall. He slide on the ground as they laughed at him and left him to see if Zim did have his paycheck on him. Dib stood up and was ready to kick some ass. Dib grabbed Kevin's arm and punched him in the jaw. Dib let go of him as Kevin fell from the impact. Luke saw this and charged at Dib. Dib dodged him and tripped Luke with his foot. Luke fell on his face and with his ass in the air. Dib kicked it, turned around and saw that Dave was going through Zim's back pack.

"Get away from him!" Dib said getting ready to kick Dave in the face until he saw that Zim was coming to. He lifted his head then looked up at Dib. Dib saw that his face was scrapped up and that one of his eyes was red. His right on to be exact then Dib noticed that it was not a swelling. It was Zim's real eye exposed because under Zim's head was his right eye contact shattered into to pieces. Zim looked at his contact, gritted his teeth in anger and pushed himself up off the ground. Dave and Todd backed away from him. Zim looked at Dib, saw that he looked like shit and then turned around exposing his dark red alien eye to them.

"Those were new contacts!" Zim shrieked at them. "New contacts! Now I'm pissed!"

"Holy, crap," Dave said staring at Zim's eyeball terrified. Zim and Dib saw their frightened expressions on their faces and walked slowly towards them. They began to back up. "It's bleeding like Hell, man, Todd why did you punch him that hard?"

"I didn't think I did, aw man, why is he standing?" Todd said wondering why Zim wasn't having a concussion. Zim knocked Todd in the jaw as Dib punched Dave in the stomach. They both fell on their knees. Todd looked up at Zim's eye still stocked out of his skull from the redness.

"Dude, maybe you should go to the doctor or something that eyeball looks really bad." Todd said backing away but Zim kept on coming towards him.

"Oh, so you are concern about my well being now?" Zim questioned Todd as he kicked him in the stomach. "You coward, you make me sick!"

"Please stop looking at us, that eye is disgusting," Dave pleaded. Zim heard Dave's remark and picked him up by his shirt's collar forcing Dave to look into it. Dave turned his head away and Zim punched him with his left hand and dropped him to the ground. Dib knew that Zim was furious and let him kick him a few times as he watched. Yook finally got up from his nap and saw that Zim was kicking furiously at his brother.

"Aw, man I must still be baked. Hey stay away from my broth—Oh My God! Look at his eyeball!" Yook shouted standing up pointing at him. "That's not human, man he's a freak!"

"Shut up!" Dib said punching Yook in the eye. "You're just having a bad dream."

"Oh, yeah…right…" Yook said falling back to sleep.

"Idiot." Dib muttered as Zim stopped kicking Dave. Then he focused his attention back on Todd. The man who started this whole mess.

"Look, man I'm sorry, just don't kill me!" Todd said groveling grabbing at the beer. "Here, take the beer, it's yours just leave me alone."

Zim took the bottled six pack of beer and crashed them on the ground furiously right next to Todd.

"I don't want you crummy beer you pathetic salt of the earth!" Zim shouted. "Now my friend and I are leaving, but before we go I would like to say this: Maybe you will think twice before stealing from a bunch of little hi-skoolers. Get a real job, you bums!"

Zim looked around at the groaning bodies of five twenty years old lying on the concrete. He was surprised at his mix up didn't get anyone's attention. Zim dusted himself off and looked at Dib who had a couple of bruises on his face.

"Let's get out of here before somebody calls the police." Zim suggested to Dib.

"Wait what about your eye?" Dib questioned Zim. Zim looked around for anything that could conceal his eye until he noticed Kevin's baseball cap and took it off his head.

"I'll be taking that." Zim said as he placed the baseball cap on his head using the hat's rim to cover his red eye. Zim and Dib ran out of the alleyway to join civilization once more. They blended in with the crowd and started to walk. Zim looked over at Dib who was really angry. Dib's shirt and cloak had dirt stains and his scythe hair style was fuzzy.

"Hey, check out my hat, go Squids! Heh, heh," Zim said awkwardly trying to cheer Dib up but he ignored him. "So, where we going?"

"Home before someone else tries to beat me up because of you!" Dib shrieked and walked away.

"Ohhh, Dib wait! Don't be like that, everything's fine!" Zim said to him. Dib turned around.

"Everything's fine! Everything's fine!" Dib said yelling at Zim. "We got our asses beat up, almost got robbed and oh yeah, you're eye is exposed and everything's fine?"

"Yes," Zim peeped. Dib thought about what Zim was telling him and shook his head.

"Let's just go home." Dib muttered.

"Don't you want to do that case?" Zim asked Dib disappointed.

"I don't feel like it anymore." Dib said walking away.

"Come on, I promise I won't ditch you." Zim said then Dib glared at him.

"You promise a lot of things but you seem to think you have the right to break them don't you!"

"Don't tell me you are still mad about the beer thing?"

"Yes, I am, I'm mad about a lot of things, I'm so freakin' pissed that I might kick your ass right now." Dib said walking towards Zim getting ready to beat him up.

"Hey, this is all your fault!" Zim defended himself.

"How is it my fault?"

"If you let me buy the beer, we would have avoided this mess!"

"You stupid moron! You think I was going to let you buy that beer? I would never do that! I was looking out for your best interest even though you betrayed me."

"And how exactly did I betray you, huh? You betrayed me first by hiding your magazines at my house before I picked up the bottle, so you started it!"

"That doesn't make any sense and how is this involved with our argument?"

"I don't know, but I'm still pissed off about it, I might as well throw it in."

"You betrayed me telling my Dad that you were going to stay off the beer, but I guess you don't respect my Dad well enough to care. After all he done for you, he asks of this one thing and you didn't even think about listening to him, did you?"

"Dib, I did, I really did, but I…" Zim was about to lie once more but stopped himself. He saw that Dib was really hurt that he betrayed both Dib and his father's trust. "I…I never did really promise to stop drinking, I only said that so he would stop yelling at me. I thought he was overacting because I destroyed you're guy's X-mas decorations and I just wanted him to stop, but he still did punish me so I thought it was an even trade. I paid for the damage and I get home, rest and buy more beer. Simple as that. I just never drink in front of you guys again."

"And how long did you think you would keep this up?" Dib wondered to Zim annoyed.

"I don't know, until I got caught, I guess." Zim said scratching his head. "Which was today?"

"I just don't understand, if you knew that what you were doing was wrong, why did you still do it?"

"It was something I really enjoyed. I come home from a long day of skool or work, when I drink that first beer all my problems seems to go away. Awww, it felt so good."

"Okay that I can understand. I felt the same way when had my first beer at that party last year. Man, we should have never gone." Dib said thinking back to that house party Dib and Zim went to last summer.

* * *

Nine months earlier

"Hey, Dib, I remember you from Chemistry, how's it going man?" Deter asked drinking from his bottle next to Dib as held his own bottle of beer.

"Not bad, not bad, this is some wicked party, man, I didn't think it would be that awesome, maybe I would get some action if you know what I mean," Dib suggested elbowing Deter.

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean, they are playing seven minutes in heaven upstairs if you want to get into that," Deter told him.

"Sweet!" Dib said.

"Hey, Dib, you know your buddy that you came with, he's totally wasted, it's pretty funny," Deter said. "He so wasted that he thinks he's an alien. He's on a mad rant right now in the living room."

"What?" Dib said shocked breaking his good buzz. Dib put his bottle on the table, went into the living room and saw that about twenty people were listening to his rant.

"So, let me get this straight," One guy said listening to his ridiculous story. "You came to Earth to destroy all man-kind, so you can, heh, heh, prove yourself worthy as an invader."

"And you were born out of a tube!" Another guy shouted giggling.

"Yes, yes, why is that so hard to believe?" Zim said angrily taking another gulp out of his cup. "It's so simple and you humans are too stupid to realize my motives I tricked you into thinking I am …normal…and look at you…still can't believe an alien even though he is right in your face…you know what, I'm great invader, I tricked you all. In fact I think I might expose myself."

"Wooo, whooo, take your pants off!" One girl shouted.

"No, you sick pervert! Zim is no stripper!" Zim screamed at the girl. He curiously looked down at his pants. "Maybe I will…but first, my wig."

"Zim!" Dib yelled at him. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hey Dib, great party or what?" Zim said saluting Dib with his cup.

"Come here," Dib said grabbing Zim by his collar dragging him on the floor.

"Guess I see you next year," Zim yelled to them. "Have a great summer you stinkin' humans!"

* * *

"I don't remember much about the party," Zim said trying to search his mind through this blanked out memory. "Are you sure I blabbed about me being an alien?"

"Yes, you did, and after I dragged you away, you threw up on yourself and rolled on the ground from the pain of your own puke."

"Well...That explained the burned marks." Zim and remembering waking up to burn marks after the party.

"Well I'm still mad that you lied." Dib said crossing his arms again.

"What do you want from me, I said I was sorry."

"You never did!" Dib remarked. Zim looked at Dib and then bowed his head down in shame.

"I am sorry." Zim said. "I'm sorry that I lied and dragged you into that mess. It was wrong for me to deceive you and drink behind you back like that. It will never happen again."

"How do I know you are telling the truth, huh?" Dib said facing him.

"I pretty much destroyed my only resource, so yeah, the beer is out of reach for now, but that's not good enough here." Zim said holding out his hand. Dib looked at him confused.

"It's a hand shake," Zim told Dib. "You guys use handshakes I would think you would know what it's for."

"I know what they are," Dib said. "What are you trying to prove?"

"I promise to stay save the drinking until I turn twenty one, okay?"

"Does that mean I get your ray gun?"

"What?"

"You feel bad about betraying me and are apologizing for it, I win! You have a conscious Zim!" Dib said happily pointing to him. Zim couldn't believe that Dib was more concerned getting his ray gun ignoring his gesture, but he grimed knowing Dib wasn't mad at him anymore.

"Okay, Dib, you win, I will give you my ray gun only if you forgive me and never tell your Dad any of this."

"Deal," Dib said shaking his hand. "Okay let's get home before people actually notice your eye under that baseball cap."

"The rim is covering it up nicely."

"Yeah it is but you look like a dork, ha, ha,"

"Hey, it was the best I can do short noticed. It's not like I have an eye patch or something."

"I do." Dib said pulling one out of his pocket.

"How come you have an eye patch in your pocket?"

"I don't know, one time I had ham in my pocket and don't remember carrying it."

"That's just weird, Dib, you need to clean through your coat more often." Zim said grabbing the eye patch and placing it over his eye. Then he removed the baseball cap.

"Better?" Zim said.

"You still look like a dork."

"Oh, whatever, let's catch the bus home, you can come over to retrieve my gun."

"Hey, wait; are you really still mad about me hiding my porn in your house?"

"Yes." Zim said.

"Why?"

"Because you made my look like an idiot in front of Mary, I didn't find the porn, she did."

"Oh," Dib snickered then started laughing. "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Are you serious?"

"Yeah, and I didn't know what the Hell they were until I turned the page and saw them. She thought I was a perv because of you!"

"Yeah, she probably did." Dib said still laughing at him.

"Let's just get home." Zim said getting annoyed by his laughter.

"Hey let's swing by the Garden on our way back." Dib suggested to Zim. Zim turned to look at him funny.

"Oh, now you want to go."

"Yeah, why not, I really want to see if there really are haunted shoes."

"I doubt there are."

"Wanna bet."

"How much?"

"20 bucks."

"No way," Zim said. "That's way too steep."

"What are you afraid?"

"No, me, Zim I am never afraid! I will prove you wrong!"

Zim marched with Dib to the Garden Square. Zim searched around the park until he found what he was looking for. The "haunted" shoes.

"There's your haunted shoes!" Zim pointed to the ground where there stood a pair of clown shoes walking around a mat while the crowd laughed at its silly antics. There was a man in a tree making the shoes move with fishing line. He made one shoe tap furiously at the ground like it was pretending to be agitated. Dib looked at the shoes and back at his notes confused. He scratched his head looking at his notes.

"So there are not haunted?"

"No, now pay up!" Zim said holding out his hand for his bet money.

"But we didn't bet."

"I heard a bet in there."

"We didn't agree to a bet."

"What do I get, huh? I proved you wrong didn't I?"

"Wait, how did you know the haunted shoes were a fraud?"

"I was here earlier watching them dance before work."

"Then why did you agree to go on this case if you knew they were fake?" Dib questioned Zim. Zim smiled at him.

"So I'll make you look like an idiot if you believed they were real."

"You're a jerk you know that, right?"

"Yep and I'll won't have it any other way." Zim said holding his hand out hoping for his bet money.

"I'm not giving you money." Dib said looking down at his hand and turned away. A lady saw Zim begging and placed money into his hand. Zim turned his head to face her and she quickly walked away.

"Hey, wait, lady?" Zim questioned her as she walked into the crowd. Dib laughed at him.

"She thought you were a bum." Dib pointed to him. Zim looked at his outfit and saw that his mustard colored work shirt was scratched up with dirt marks and dusty. His panted was dirty too and had a hole in the knee.

"Dang, my work clothes are ruined!" Zim said shocked. "No wonder I look like a bum."

"Yeah, and the eye patch, messy hair and scratched up face adds to your persona nicely." Dib joked to him.

"You look like crap as well." Zim said pointing to Dib's outfit. Dib looked down and saw that his favorite shirt was ruined. He pulled at his shirt corners to get a better look. His so-so face looked like it had a cold. Dib then felt his hair scythe was crook it bending up and down. Dib laughed at his shirt's new look.

"Wow, my shirt doesn't look too happy." Dib said. "I won't be wearing this again. How much did she give you?"

Zim looked down at his hand and stretched out the bill to show Dib.

"She gave me a five. Nice. Thank you, mysterious money giving lady!" Zim waved shouting to the crowd like a weirdo.

"You're welcome!" A few of the performers shouted back at him. They saw one of the performers swallow three potatoes and was getting ready to pull his pants down. Dib and Zim stared at the man.

"Let's get out of here!" Zim said as Dib heard him and ran out of Garden Square.

"Whoa, that was way too close." Dib said.

"That's the last thing anyone would like to see." Zim agreed as he walked up to the bus stop.

"Hey, guess what? I found my bus pass." Zim said pulling it out of his wallet.

"Good. Now stick it back into your pocket before you lose it again." Dib suggested.

"Ooookay…" Zim said sighing as he placed it back into to wallet.

"So when is the bus going to get here?" Dib asked him.

"I dunno, maybe ten minutes or so." Zim said looking at his watch. "So what do you want to talk about now?"

"Not much, oh yeah," Dib remembered. "I saw that you had a twenty in your hand when you were going to pay for that beer. Don't tell me you pay that much for beer?"

"More than that, I pay about forty dollars for it." Zim said awkwardly.

"Zim! You idiot! Beer doesn't cost that much!" Dib said shocked how much Zim was willing to pay.

"It used to be a lot cheaper but he kept on charging more and he was the only guy selling it to me. So I knew I was getting screwed."

"Glad I stopped you, huh?" Dib said pleased.

"Yeah, I was pretty stupid for paying that much." Zim admitted. "I could have used that money to save up for a car or something."

"You probably could now since you have some extra cash to spare." Dib said sitting himself on the Garden Squares' knee high concrete wall.

"Not really, Gir broke another window." Zim said ashamed covering his forehead with his left hand.

"Again," Dib said. "How he do it this time?"

"Shot a laser through it because I locked him out of the house while we were fooling around." Zim told Dib.

"So Gir's still having update problems?"

"He is, I try but he's losing more of his intelligence each year without his standard Irken S.I.R update."

"Maybe you should have Dad look at him." Dib recommended.

"That would be a good idea. I'll ask him when he gets back from the lab."

"You think you can wait that long?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna do my upgrade on him when I get home."

"Don't forget you owe me a laser gun." Dib glee in joy.

"I won't, but it would be nice if you did, then I wouldn't have to give it up." Zim whined.

"That's what you get for becoming a better person."

"I want to be selfish again!" Zim complained.

"Too late, you already changed; you might as well accept it."

"Damn." Zim said then sat down on the wall next to Dib. Zim looked over at bent over to see if the bus was coming, but it wasn't. They had three minutes to spare. Zim sighed.

"So what's up with you?" Zim asked Dib who was texting on his phone.

"Oh, nothing much, how about you besides the whole Gir shot your window?"

"The nightmares are back." Zim admitted. Dib turned his head suddenly taking attention off his phone.

"What, I thought you were over them."

"Apparently not." Zim said. "That's why I said they were back."

"But that happened years ago, why are they coming back now?"

"I don't know, I just don't know."

"Was Gir or Minimoose there to wake you up?"

"No, they ran away…Mary woke me up."

"Mary was there when you had it!" Dib said shocked.

"Yeah, I accidently fallen asleep and the next thing I knew was I was on the ground covered with sweat. She looked horrified." Zim said placing his head in his hands.

"How horrified?" Dib asked. Zim looked up at him with a serious expression on his face.

"She was crying horrified." Zim explained. Dib shook his head. "I don't know what's going on with me lately. I got over those night terrors years ago and now they're back. For what purpose are they back? I'm not in any real danger anymore and nothings threatening me."

"Maybe they're back because you have to worry about hiding your identity again."

"But I always hide my identity."

"Yea, but even more than usual when you started making friends with those guys."

"Maybe so, but I think it might be a little deeper than that but I'm not certain." Zim pondered to himself.

"Zim," Dib said getting his attention. "Have you ever thought about telling Mary that you're an alien?

"No!" Zim stood up suddenly. "Never! Why?"

"I think it might be good for you if you did. I would think she would be a lot understanding in that aspect, she did try to free Skoodge and actually saw an alien."

"She would be the best person to tell but I don't want to freak her out, not just yet, maybe I can hold off on it a little while."

"Okay," Dib said standing up seeing the bus coming. "But you are going to regret it if you delaying it."

"That's for me to decide and you not to get involved in Dib-monkey." Zim said getting his wallet out as the bus pulled up to their stop.

"Fine I won't tell anybody your disturbing secret but next time you're getting exposed I'll just sit there and laugh."

"What? Zim said surprised. "You're not going to help me?"

"Nope, just going to sit there, nod and say 'yep, he's an alien.'"

"Fine, like I need any help from you!" Zim said getting on the bus flashing his bus pass to the driver.

"You needed my help earlier when we were getting beaten up."

"I didn't need your help; I would have beaten those guys up myself."

"While you were unconscious?" Dib questioned him getting on the bus showing the bus driver his bus pass.

"Yes!" Zim sitting himself down next to the window in the front row of the bus. Dib sat down on the opposite side of him.

"You know that you can't do that anymore because you don't have your Pak, right?" Dib asked him.

"Yeah, yeah I know, I just forgot." Zim said rubbing the empty spot on his back. Dib and Zim sat quietly on the bus waiting to reach there neighborhood. It wasn't a good outing for both of them and decided not to talk about it. When they saw their neighborhood, Zim pulled the cord and got off. They walked into their neighborhood passing Dib's house.

"What am I doing, giving away my gun...Totally out of my character but I have to keep the Dib-monkey quiet…" Zim muttered to himself. Dib heard him.

"Don't worry Zim, I'm gonna take care of it, you'll see, I'd always wanted a real ray gun!"

"Do you even know how to use a gun?" Zim questioned him.

"I know how to use a paintball gun." Dib assured him.

"A marker and a ray gun are totally different weapons. Maybe I should teach you how to use it before I give it to you."

"Alright!" Dib said pleased. "Free gun lessons from an alien! That's what I'm talking about! This is going to be neat!"

"Yeah, neat…" Zim said rolling his eyes at Dib's childish enthusiasm. They both walked up to Zim's house. Zim opened his front door and to his surprise he saw that Mary was there sitting on the floor watching T.V. with Gir and Minimoose. Zim panicked and slammed the door suddenly. The loud slam from the door startled her and she looked around wondering what it was. She shrugged her shoulders and went back to watching T.V. Dib looked at Zim strangely as he gritted his teeth.

"What's wrong with you?" Dib asked Zim curious on why he shut the door suddenly. "Don't tell me an experiment escaped from you lab! It did, didn't it?" I'm out of here!"

Dib was getting ready to run until Zim stopped him.

"No, even worse, Mary is here. I forgot she was going to be here to drop off Slippers." Zim whispered.

"Why is she dropping off shoes for you?" Dib asked him confused.

"It's not shoes. it's a rabbit. I'm letting her keep it here." Zim explained quickly to Dib.

"Why did you agree to watch over a rabbit? You hate animals." Dib stated out.

"I know. I thought it was a good idea at the time but that's not important right now. She is here and I look like this with one eye about to be exposed. How am I going to hide this from her? Help me!"

"No." Dib said.

"What?" Zim said confused.

"No, I'm not going to help you; this is going to be funny." Dib smirked at him. "Anyways you said that you didn't need my help so yeah, you're on your own."

"Please, I was kidding. This is serious! What will she think of me when I show up in my house like this?"

"Let her think what she wants. If she can't accept you the way you are now, then how is she ever going accept you?"

"You're right." Zim said thinking about what Dib told him. "There is no way I was going to hide this?" Zim said looking down at his messy appearance.

"Unless you want to freak her out by sneaking into your house but I don't think you want to do that."

"No, I don't. It's time to face the light!" Zim said dramatically and opened the front door. Mary heard the door slam open and saw that Zim and Dib were in the entrance. She noticed them and saw that Zim looked like he had been in a wreck. His hair was messy, he had one eye patch covering his eye and his uniform had dirt stains and holes in the pants. His face had a few scratches on his cheeks and the eye he was covering up look like it was developing a bruise. Then she glanced over at Dib and saw he was the same way. His hair was bent out of shape and lost its scythe look, his cheeks had a couple of bruises on it also and his black cloak looked like it was covered in dust. His T-shirt had dirt smeared on its face. She stood up holding Slipper's in her hands as she approached them.

"Oh MY GOSH! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU GUYS?" Mary asked suddenly.

"Oh, this," Zim said trying to act like it was nothing. "Some guys thought they could beat us up but we showed them, right Dib."

Zim smiled over to Dib but to his surprise he saw that Dib wasn't smiling at all. Dib didn't say anything; he just shook his head and looked away. Zim turned over, saw that Mary wasn't smiling either and looked pretty worried. He wiped the smile off his face.

"I got myself involved into the wrong crowd for my own stupid reasons and ended up paying for it. As a result, I dragged my best friend with me. Dib, I'm sorry I'm so stupid."

"You already apologized to me, seriously, its fine, Zim." Dib said.

"I know, but just letting you know if I didn't make myself clear."

"You did just don't gloat about getting your ass kicked, okay." Dib chuckled to him. Zim nodded and turned his attention to Mary.

"You probably think low of me, huh?" Zim asked her. "Getting myself involved into something like that…"

"No, it's just unfortunate that this happened. Everybody makes mistakes I just think it takes a bigger person to admit it and make amends." Mary said and Zim smiled relieved to hear this. "But, wow guys, you really got yourself hurt big time. I don't know what you did, Zim but you must have pissed off a lot of people."

"I pissed off one guy and he called in reinforcements. The truth is that I was buying beer and Dib caught me so I didn't buy any. Then he got mad and called four of his friends to beat us up. We almost got robbed."

"So, that's how you were getting your beer." Mary said.

"You knew," Zim said surprised.

"Of course, you don't hide it very well in the refrigerator."

"And you didn't see anything wrong with it?" Zim said even more surprised by her reaction.

"No, it's your life style; I wouldn't interfere unless you were starting to develop a problem." Mary said.

"See!" Zim said to Dib. "Mary never had a problem with my drinking."

"Neither have I but you promised Dad you stopped so yeah I'm making sure you keep that promise so you won't have to go to AA."

"Yeah, Thank you." Zim muttered.

"Say it nicely or don't say it at all." Dib said. Then Zim smirked and got on his knees in front of Dib.

"What are you do-"

"Oh, Thank You DIB! You Truly ARE the Greatest Friend ANYONe CAN Ask FOR! FORGET surrending to A GREATER Power OVER my ADDICTION For You Are THE GREATER POWER,DIB! I AM SURRENDERING to YOU!" Zim sarcastically expressed to Dib. Dib wanted to kick him.

"You weirdo, Surrender yourself somewhere else, I don't want you!" Dib joked to him. Zim got up and laughed at Dib's statement and so did Mary. They all laughed for a moment.

"Okay, Zim seriously, I think we should have a look at that eye of yours. It looks really bad." Mary said reaching her hand over to Zim's eye patch. Zim swatted her hand away. Mary placed her hand back down surprised by his quickness.

"I'm going to get dress first, then I'll have a look at it." Zim said quickly and then ran upstairs.

"I was just going to remove the eye patch. The swelling looks really bad under there. It looks really red." Mary said confused.

"Heh, heh, yeah…" Dib said awkwardly smiling giggling a bit. Mary stared at Dib oddly to his sudden urge to giggle.

Zim took the eyepatch off and saw Gir was in the bathroom staring at him.

"I can see your Eye! IT's Huge!" Gir peeped loudly. Zim hushed him up.

"Quiet. You don't want Mary to come up here, do you?"

"Maybe I do, then we can play lava monster!" Gir said then was about to inhale and get ready to scream.

"No, Gir!" Zim said covering his mouth. "Not, now!"

"Okay…" Gir said and walked back downstairs. Zim sighed and placed a new contact into his eyeball, it sting his eyeball.

"Owwwww! Son of a Bitch!" Zim screamed loud enough to get Dib and Mary's attention.

"Maybe we should check on him?" Mary said to Dib.

"I guess if you want to see him changing." Dib smiled evilly at her. Mary looked away flustered by Dib's statement and remained in the living room.

Despite the pain, Zim was able to put his contact in. He put the other contacts back into the medicine cabinet, went into his room and changed himself into a pair of blue jeans and a black T-shirt. Then he went back downstairs to see Mary sitting on the couch with Dib waiting for him.

"Sorry it took so long. I had a hard time getting the eye patch off." Zim made up.

"I could have helped you get it off." Mary suggested

"No, no," Zim freaked. "Never touch the eyes! Seriously, don't!"

"Okay…let's have a look here." Mary said examining his eye. It looked purple and blue around the eyelids. Not red at all anymore. Mary thought this was strange.

"You're eye looked red a little while ago…" Mary commented.

"It DID!" Zim jerked away and then thought up something on the spot. "Oh, yes, it did! It was until I took the eye patch off. It was compressing the swelling in my eye, you know."

"Yeah, that might have been it…It doesn't look that bad at all, but you still need to put some ice on it. Do you have an ice pack?" Mary said walking into the kitchen.

"No, but I have a bag of carrots in the freezer nobody wants to eat." Zim joked and she smiled.

"That will work, I'll go get it." Mary said walking further into the kitchen towards the refrigerator. Zim heard a snicker and heard it was Dib laughing at him.

"You're just enjoying this aren't you?" Zim questioned him.

"Yeah, I am. Considering the fact that I been having such a crappy day."

"My day was crappier, I had to read to a bunch of children, and they liked me!" Zim said surprised.

"Of course they do, they like you because you remind them of a slug." Dib kept on laughing.

"I am not a slug. How do I remind them of such a thing?"

"Well, you're green, you have no nose or ears, slimy and you sometimes crawl on the floor." Dib continued laughing.

"Hey, that was one time! I was looking for a penny that rolled under the couch!" Zim screamed at Dib. Dib just kept on laughing at him.

"Careful, Dib, you laugh too much, your organs will explode."

"That's was just a commercial, Zim."

"Well, I'm not going to be watching that show if it's going to make me explode from laughter." Zim crossed his arms and sat next to Dib. Dib stopped himself from laughing and calmed down. Zim saw that Gir was holding Slippers getting ready to put the bunny into his mouth.

"No! Gir! You eat Slippers, Mary will get sad." Zim explained to him.

"Ohhhh," Gir sighed disappointed. "What should I eat, master?"

"Go into the kitchen and figure that out. Take Minimoose with you, its dinner time for both of you anyways."

"But Minimoose is busy watching one of his soaps." Gir said and they saw Minimoose was squeaking at the T.V.

"The truth is I am your brother's step-brother twice removed grandfather!" The T.V. actor said.

"Nyaaaaa!" Minimoose squeaked shocked from the plot twist.

"Fine, eat without him." Zim said. Gir walked into the kitchen while Mary left entering the living room with the bag of carrots wrapped in plastic wrap.

"What is that?" Zim pointed to the wrapped up bag.

"It's the bag of carrots you asked for wrapped in plastic wrap. I thought the moisture would irritate your eye so I wrapped it for you."

"Oh, thanks that was very thoughtful of you." Zim admitted then took the bag out of Mary's hand and slapped it on his eye. Big mistake.

"Owwwwww!" Zim screamed from the pain of slapping his injured eye with a bag of frozen hard carrots. "That hurts! Why did it hurt so much!"

"'Cause you slammed it on your eye, you idiot!" Dib told him.

"Here," Mary said taking the bag out of Zim's hand.

"Look up." Mary told him. Zim looked up to see Mary's face. She was going to put the bag on his eye and Zim turned away.

"Zim, turn back my way, I know it hurts but you have to trust me with this." Mary sternly spoke.

"Okay…" Zim said turning his head back at Mary's direction. She then placed the bag gently onto his injured eye. The bag of carrots felt so good on his eye.

"Now hold it." Mary told Zim as she held the bag in place over his eye hoping she could leave this awkward position.

"Can't you just hold it for me?" Zim whined to her.

"I can't stand like this forever, it's embarrassing…" Mary said looking away blushing. Zim saw that Mary was standing in front of him leaning towards him. Her right hand holding the bag on his eye while her left hand on his couch right next to his shoulder holding herself from falling on him. Zim looked down to see that her chest was to his chin. Zim blushed and smirked at her.

"It would be nice if you did." Zim said smiling at her. Mary blushed even more and then became angry pushing hard on his eye ball.

"Owwww! Mary that hurts!"

"HOLD!"

"Okay, okay!" Zim said putting his hand on the bag as Mary let go and pushed herself off the couch. Dib laughed at them and stood up.

"Hey, Zim, where do you keep the band aids?" Dib questioned Zim.

"Oh, they are in the bathroom, I'll go-"

"No, you stay here with Mary, I'll get them. I have to clean myself up." Dib said walking up stairs. "I'll let you two have at it."

"What does that mean, Dib?" Zim asked him angrily embarrassed.

"Nothing…heh, heh," Dib said as he left. Zim kept holding his bag on his eye staring at Mary out of his good eye. Mary noticed his staring and looked down ashamed.

"Sorry, about my behavior. I ju-" Mary said but Zim stopped her.

"No, that's quite alright, I probably deserved it. But you surprised me Mary. I didn't know you had an aggressive side. I kind of like it."

Mary was shocked by his response for making his eye hurt and then picked up Slippers off the floor. She petted the bunny then sat right next to Zim. Zim looked at the little vermin and glared disgusted at it then looked away.

"Well, I just wanted you to know that I was sorry, I should be thanking you for letting me keep Slippers at your house, Zim. That was very sweet of you." Mary said smiling at him.

"Don't mention it." Zim said smiling back at her. "So I'm assuming you never had a pet before."

"Oh, I had pets," Mary said giggling a bit.

"Huh, I don't get it. How can get any pets if your Dad was allergic to animals?"

"When I was a kid, I used to sneak up stray animals into my bedroom and took care of them before my Dad would wise up to it." Mary admitted smiling.

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah, I would sneak up all sorts of animals, dogs, cats, and even birds that were injured. Of course I would make sure I wouldn't touch the bird with my bare hands. I wore gloves. My Dad kept on sneezing whenever he came home. He couldn't figured out why until he went into my room and saw I had two cats, a stray dog and me taking care of a injured bird on my bed. He became pretty mad at me and told me to get rid of them. I told him about the injured bird so he took that and gave it to the bird sanctuary to be taken care of. I didn't get see the bird after that." Mary said bowing her head sadly petting Slippers on her lap.

"I bet the little bird was okay." Zim said trying to cheer her up. Mary looked up and nodded at him. Then he laughed. "I can't believe you played animal doctor with real animals when you were a kid, Mary-Moo-Cow! I can imagine how cute you looked feeding that bird."

"You think that's cute?" Mary questioned him. Zim stared at her.

"Yeah, that is a pretty strange thing to think as cute, the bird must have been dying." Zim muttered pondering to himself. "Oh, well, I must have been thinking of something else."

Mary and Zim kept quiet for a while mostly out of awkward silence not knowing what to talk about. Mary petted Slippers while Zim applied cold pressure on his black eye. Mary came up with an idea.

"Hey, would you like to hold Slippers?" Mary asked him. Zim looked shocked at her then looked back at the spotted vermin that sat on her lap.

"No thanks," Zim waved off. "I don't think that thing would like me that much."

"Of course he will, it just takes time for him to get used to you. Slippers already like Gir and Minimoose."

"Well, he liked Gir until a minute ago." Zim commented think back to Gir sticking the rabbit in his mouth.

"Huh?" Mary questioned his statement.

"Nevermind, alright if you think he will like me, then fine, I'll hold it." Zim said reaching his left hand to grab for the rabbit. Slippers backed away at Zim's hand. This annoyed Zim.

"See," Zim said withdrawing his hand. "It doesn't like me."

"Try petting him." Mary suggested.

"Okay…" Zim said reaching his left hand again getting ready to pet the vermin. Zim leaned his hand on Slippers back. Slippers felt Zim's pressure of his hand and hopped away trying to get out from under Zim's grip. Slipper's squeeze under Zim's hand landing his hand on Mary's right leg such above the knee. Zim stared at his hand for a minute then stared back at Mary who looked really embarrassed by Zim's action.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhh….." Zim said blushing.

"Zim, would you please let go of my leg?" Mary asked annoyed.

"Right!" Zim said quickly taking his hand of her leg. "Sorry, that sure was awkward, heh, heh,"

"Yea…" Mary said picking up slippers off the floor then placed him on Zim's lap. "You're turn."

"What?" Zim said staring at Slippers as it stared back at him. Zim put his left hand on him and began petting him like he seen done on T.V. He stroked Slippers' head and back surprised that the bunny liked it.

"What do you know; I guess this thing doesn't hate me at all." Zim said pleased continuing to pet Slippers. Mary smiled and looked at her watch. It was 10:30.

"Oh, no, I'm way pass curfew!" Mary shrieked suddenly. "Good thing my Dad isn't home, he would be very angry with me."

"Well, stay a little longer; we can all watch a movie or something." Zim suggested.

"Sorry, but I can't, I don't want to miss the last bus."

"Oh, right, the last bus leaves at 11. Okay, then, we better gets going." Zim said putting down his bag of carrots then gave Slippers to Minimoose.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Mary questioned him.

"I'm coming with you." Zim said putting his coat on. "I can't let you go by yourself, it could be dangerous."

"No, its okay, I'll be fine." Mary said grabbing her back pack and placing it on her shoulder.

"Then you wouldn't mind that I tagged along." Zim suggested eagerly.

"No, I guess not." Mary said opening the front door. She saw that Zim's garden gnomes glow an eerie green color. She backed away and let Zim exit the house first.

"Zim, no offense but your house gives me the creeps at night." Mary said as they walked through Zim's front lawn.

"That's to scare the burglars away," Zim joked and continued to walk with her. They walked side by side passing along in Zim's neighborhood. She noticed some of the street lights were broken and some guys in their open garage playing loud music while drinking staring at them. She knew why Zim wanted to walk with her. She eased up and stared at Zim curiously. Zim felt something was staring at him and glanced at Mary.

"What's a matter, Mary, can't stop staring at my good looks." Zim joked to her. Mary gasped and stopped in her place.

"No…I was just wondering…" Mary muttered trying to find what to say.

"Yes?" Zim asked curiously.

"Oh, nevermind, I forgot." Mary said embarrassed.

"Jeez, you could at least admit that I look great even with my banged up eye and scrapped up face and all." Zim said to her trying to make her feel guilty.

"I was just wondering if we are still on for tomorrow's study session."

"Oh, that yeah, we are still on, if that's okay with you." Zim said.

"Yeah, it's fine."

"Mary, can I ask you something?" Zim said.

"What is it?" Mary asked.

"What made you so upset earlier, you looked like you were about to cry and if somebody made you upset I-"

"Oh that," Mary remembering what happened at the orphanage. "Some things were said and well…it's a long story."

"Oh, I see." Zim said understanding knowing full well that he's the king of long stories. "But, when you came back, you didn't have any problems?"

"No, we made up. Then focused on selling goodies, it was a good day. We sold every last cookie."

"That's good." Zim said. They reached the bus stop with a few minutes to spare. Mary continued to stare at Zim's eyeball and then started to giggle. Zim noticed that she was giggling at him.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Zim asked her.

"Nothing…" Mary denied.

"Come on, spit it out! I know you think I look ridiculous." Zim admitted.

"No, no, not at all…" Mary kept on denying snickering to herself. "It's just that I was thinking how funny you guys look walking through the city like that. Did you actually beat up five people?"

"Yeah, they were a bunch of weaklings." Zim boasted.

"That's pretty cool, you must be really strong." Mary said amazed.

"Yeah, I am, feel how strong my muscle is." Zim offered his arm to her. Mary felt it and despite the fact that his arm wasn't bulging from his flex, his muscle felt very tough.

"Wow, you really are strong." Mary said impressed. Zim felt very proud of his own strength.

"Yes that what makes me so amazing!" Zim boasted even more. Then the bus pulled up and Mary turned back to him.

"Zim, I think you're truly amazing no matter how strong you are." Mary told him then walked on the bus leaving Zim speechless. The bus drove off and Zim walked back home. When he opened up the door he saw that Dib was waiting for him.

"So…How did it go?" Dib asked him curiously.

"What do you mean?" Zim asked him.

"Did you, I don't know, do anything special with Mary?" Dib wondered to Zim hoping he would spill anything interesting to him. Zim thought for a minute echoing what Mary told him in his mind then looked back at Dib.

"NO! Nothing special at all, I petted the bunny and walked her to the bus stop, nothing more!" Zim denied.

"Oh, come on, tell me!" Dib pestered him. "I know something had to happen the way you're blushing like that."

"OOOOOO…." Gir noticed how red his master's cheeks looked. "Your right, Dib, Master you look so red like a lobster! Time to put some butter on you!"

"No butter, Gir, never again!" Zim screamed at Gir. Gir looked down, petted Slippers and put him back into his cage.

"Zim you're face is so red, ha ha ha, just look at you!" Dib kept teasing him. Zim looked into his reflection on his window and noticed his cheeks were really red but couldn't figure out why. Then he sighed and looked at Dib annoyed by his appearance.

"It must have been an allergic reaction." Zim reasoned to himself. "That has to be the only logical explanation. Come on, Dib, quit laughing, don't you want me to teach you how to use your new gun."

"Oh, yeah, I do." Dib said getting up from the couch eagerly.

"Okay, follow me," Zim explained. Zim walked upstairs to retrieve the gun while Dib followed him. Zim showed him the ray gun. It was hand held, red, with no barrel on it. Dib looked at the gun confused.

"It has no barrel, how I am going to load any bullets in it?" Dib questioned him.

"It's a ray gun, stupid, it doesn't need bullets. It charges up energy with every shot."

"How?" Dib asked him.

"I'll show you." Zim said walking out of his room. They went downstairs, through the kitchen and out the back door. Zim glanced around to see if there was anything he could shoot at to show as an example for Dib. He found it. A bunch of cans that Gir left on the ground. Zim took the cans and lined them up on his back yard's table. He took his ray gun out of his coat pocket and aimed at one of the cans. He pressed the trigger and held it. It made the gun whistle and shake slightly. Zim let go of the trigger and a red beam of light shot out hitting the can pinging it off the table.

"Wow!" Dib said amazed. "That was awesome. Let me try!"

"Okay, Dib," Zim said holding out the gun for Dib to take. Then he jerked it away from Dib. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Am I sure, of course I am!" Dib said. "Just let me practice."

"Alright, now take the gun, and hold it like this." Zim said handing it to him Dib making him hold the gun with both hands. "Okay," Zim said backing up behind him. "You ready to aim?"

"Yes, I found my target." Dib said pointing the ray gun to the can he wanted to shoot at.

"Okay, now hold the trigger." Zim instructed. Dib pushed his pointer finger on the trigger and watched as the ray gun began to charge.

"Let, it charge for a few seconds, then let go of the trigger." Zim said waiting for the gun to charge. Zim watched as Dib charged the gun. Zim waited for Dib to let go of the trigger but he didn't.

"Dib, that's enough charging, let go of the trigger!" Zim commanded.

"Nah, I want to see what this baby can do, don't you?" Dib said holding it tighter as the gun started shaking rapidly.

"It does plenty of damage with a little charge, Dib let go of the trigger!" Zim commanded again.

"Okay, fine Zim don't be such a-"Dib said letting go of the trigger. The force from the shot made Dib fall back a few inches knocking him and Zim down in the process. The ray gun lost its target and shot itself right into Zim upstairs window in the bathroom. Zim pushed Dib off him and stared at the damage the shot cost him.

"My window!" Zim screamed and ran into his house to his bathroom. He stared at the gaping hole in his shower's window. Dib followed Zim upstairs to see the damage he caused.

"Whoa…" Dib said looking at the window that barely had any glass covering it anymore. Zim saw that Dib was carrying the gun and snatched it out of his hands.

"Hey," Dib yelp.

"When I said let go of the trigger, I mean LET GO OF THE TRIGGER! DIB, you wrecked my WINDOW! How am I going to explain this to Greg?" Zim screamed at Dib.

"Sorry, Zim okay," Dib said. "I'll pay for the window."

"You better, or no gun, in fact I'm not even sure you are ready to handle one." Zim said crossing his arms.

"Please, give me one more chance," Dib begged him.

"I'll have to think about it." Zim said walking away to his bedroom putting the ray gun away then walked back out of his room. "For now, pick up your mess!"

"Okay," Dib said and started picking up the shards of glass putting them into the waste basket.


	21. The Day of the Meats!

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 21: The Day of the Meats!

Dib finished picking up the shards of glass after his failed attempt in controlling his new ray gun. Dib placed the last shard in the waste basket and gave the garbage bag to Zim. Zim snatched the bag out of his hand, went downstairs and threw it in the kitchen garbage. Dib went downstairs to see if he could talk Zim into returning the gun to him.

"Zim I-" Dib said.

"No, go home!" Zim yelped turning to face Dib.

"What?" Dib snapped.

"I know what you are up to and it's not going to work!" Zim said. Dib was shocked.

"I haven't even said anything." Dib said surprised.

"Oh, then what were you going to say?"

"I was going to say that promise I will pay for the window, okay so don't be mad."

"Oh, I thought you were going to convince me to give you back that gun."

"No, of course not." Dib denied. 'Dang, wait, how did he know I was going to say that? Does he have some sort of alien mind reading powers that I don't know about?'

'Why is Dib staring at me with his big head?' Zim wondered thinking. 'Man, his head is way too big. You think that his head would stop growing by now but… Geez...'

Zim got fed up with Dib staring at him and pointed to the door. Dib stared at his finger.

"Go home, Dib, it's late." Zim demanded.

"Zim, I'm not a dog. If you want me to leave, ask politely." Dib suggested annoyed by Zim's treatment.

"Fine, would you please, leave. Its way pass midnight and I have to get up early for work tomorrow." Zim explained.

"Oh, okay," Dib agreed. "See, Zim, was that so hard? You keep this up; you'd be a polite human yet."

"Who said I want to be a 'polite human'," Zim said opening the door for Dib. "All I see are assholes and jerks and I think I would be a better candidate for jerk, don't you agree?"

"No, you're being nice," Dib said. "Don't deny it, you're a nice guy."

"Am not!" Zim said slamming the door behind Dib furiously for his rebuttal. Zim walked up to Slippers cage. He notices the bunny hopping around, grabbed him and placed him in his cage. Zim carried Slippers to his room and saw that Gir and Minimoose was already in his dresser getting ready for bed.

"This is a surprise," Zim said. "You guys are sleepy?"

"Yep," Gir peeped snuggling in his dresser shelf with his yellow blanket. "We are all pooped out!"

"Nya," Minimoose agreed and sat himself on his bed closing his eyes.

"Okay," Zim said placing the cage on his desk. "Time for bed,"

Zim took off his coat and shoes, turned off his lights and went under the covers. He was about to shut his eyes until he heard the door bell. Zim wondered who was at his door at this hour so he looked out his bed room window and saw it was Dib at his front door. Zim growled, got out of bed, went downstairs and opened the front door. Dib smiled at Zim. Zim gave him an annoyed glare.

"Why are you here, I thought I told you to go home." Zim said rudely.

"I know, but the thing is I'm locked out and I forgot my key, can I borrow yours?"

"You never gave me a key, remember?" Zim said. "I'm annoying…"

"Oh," Dib said awkwardly.

"Isn't Gaz home?" Zim questioned Dib.

"No, she's over at a friend's house and won't be back until morning." Dib explained. Zim sighed.

"Okay, you can crash on my couch, but be quiet!" Zim warned him. "I need my sleep."

"No problem, thanks Zim." Dib said gratefully.

"Yeah, yeah," Zim said walking upstairs. Dib closed the door behind him and sat himself on Zim's couch. He felt the couch cushions with his hand testing its comfort level.

"This couch is stiff and smells like…Bacon." Dib commented.

"Well, maybe next time you remember your keys to avoid sleeping on my smelly couch of discomfort." Zim said throwing a pillow and blanket at him from his stair way. Dib caught the pillow and blanket. Zim went back upstairs to get some well deserved sleep.

The rest of night remained silent without sudden noise in the house to wake them. It became morning. Zim's alarm clock beeped and he looked up at it. It was 7:30 AM. Zim got up, put on his back-up clean work clothes, grabbed his wallet, fed Slippers and went downstairs to make breakfast. He saw Dib was still snoozing on the couch. He shook his head and went into his kitchen putting a bagel in the toaster. He sat on at his table and noticed the broken back door window in his kitchen. He sighed.

'I should probably fix that today, Greg doesn't work on Sundays,' Zim thought. 'Good thing I remembered to cover the bathroom window with my shower curtain before I went to bed. No squirrels try to get in my house this time.'

The bagel popped out of the toaster distracting Zim from his thoughts. He grabbed some jam in his refrigerator and spread it on the bagel.

"Raspberry, my favorite," Zim squealed taking a bite out of his bagel. He stared at the sleeping Dib monster and noticed something shiny next to the couch. Zim went up to investigate what it was. He picked up the shiny bag and saw it was his potatoes chips. He ate them all.

"My chips!" Zim screamed waking Dib up.

"Huh, what…" Dib mumbled.

"You eat all my chips!" Zim screamed angrily.

"Sorry, I got hungry; I forgot to eat dinner…" Dib said pulling the blanket up over his head and went back to sleep.

"Alright, then, you get away with it this time but next time you will…You're sleeping aren't you?" Zim asked him but he didn't answer.

"Right, I'll just finish my breakfast." Zim said walking back into his kitchen. He finished his bagel and left for work. Mart-Wall on Saturdays was a pain in the ass to work at because it was so busy. Parents brought their bratty kids along to go shopping and Zim couldn't do anything when they made fun of him because he had green skin. The parents would say no, that's not nice but the kids would make fun of him anyways. He wished he had the authority to kick them out of the store for being jerks. It was a long and exhausting day but as soon as it hit noon, Zim was off and able to enjoy the rest of his weekend. Zim caught the bus and wondered if Dib was still in his house. Twenty minutes later he was at his house opening the front door. Dib was on the couch watching T.V. with Gir and Minimoose holding Slippers.

"Why are you still doing here?" Zim said aggravated by his presence. "Did you even leave my house at all?"

"Yeah, of course I did," Dib said. "Why do you think I have a new set of clothes on?"

Zim looked at Dib outfit and he was right. He was dressed in clothes he hasn't seen on him for a long time. He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt with a hamster running in a sliver wheel, light blue jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes. No cloak on him what so ever.

"Wow, you look…" Zim said surprised.

"Look what?" Dib said.

"You look like a dork!" Zim said laughing.

"Shut up, Zim!" Dib said offended. "These were the only clothes I had that weren't dirty or covered in stains."

"Ha, ha, hah, ha, relax Dib, I was only kidding," Zim said. "You just surprised how normal you look without the whole paranormal theme that I'm accustomed to."

"Jerk, yeah, I can look normal any time I want I just choose not to." Dib said. "Sometimes trying to be normal is overrated."

"You telling me," Zim agreed. "I have to try to be a normal human all the time. It gets pretty exhausting trying to keep up with you humans and your weird fads."

"Don't worry about trying to keep up," Dib assured him. "I don't even understand our own fads sometimes."

'Hmmm…' Zim thought. "Oh yeah, I need to call Greg."

"You are going to have him work today?" Dib questioned his reasoning.

"I have to." Zim said picking up the phone. "Greg doesn't work on Sundays and I heard it's going to get colder this week. I don't want to freeze."

Dib nodded and Zim dialed his number.

"This is repair man, Greg," He answered. "What can I do for you today?"

"Yes, Greg, this is Zim." Zim said.

"Oh, Zim, hello, what is it this time?"

"Two broken windows." Zim stated.

"Ouch!" Greg expressed.

"Yeah," Zim agreed.

"Do you want them fixed or replaced?" Greg asked him.

"They have to be replaced." Zim decided.

"I see, well do you have the measurements?" Greg asked.

"No, hold on." Zim told him and carried the phone with as he grabbed the tape measure off this book case and started measuring the kitchen window.

"This one is 6 inches long and 4 inches wide and the other one is…" Zim said walking upstairs to his bathroom. "Two feet long and one foot 6 inches wide."

"Okay, got it." Greg said. "What kind of glass do you want for the windows?"

"Do you really have to ask?"

"Oh, right, the usual then. Okay, I'll be over around three, is that okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be here." Zim said.

"Okay, see you later." Greg said.

"Bye." Zim said and clicked the phone off. He went down to face Dib.

"I hope you have your money on you." Zim warned him.

"I don't have it; I didn't know you were going to do it today." Dib admitted.

"What's that, you don't want your ray gun?" Zim said pretending to hear something else.

"I do, just let me know how much I owe you and I'll talk to Dad about it." Dib said.

"Okay, well, I'm going to get out of my work clothes before Mary gets here."

"Kay." Dib said plopping himself on the couch to watch some more T.V. About an hour later, Mary knocked on the door and Dib answered it. Mary greeted him and he gave Slippers to Mary.

"Where's Zim?" She asked him.

"Upstairs." Dib said. "I don't know what he's doing."

"Okay, I better let him know I'm here so we can begin." Mary said walking upstairs. She went up to Zim's door and noticed it was closed. She knocked on it. This startled Zim making him drop the Striking Gem under the dresser.

"Just a minute." Zim said finding the gem and putting it back in his dresser drawer. Zim opened the door and saw it was Mary.

"Hello, what were you doing?" Mary asked him curiously.

"I was…sleeping." Zim horribly lied.

"Really?" Mary said

"Yes, in my underwear." Zim lied even more. "Ughhh…I needed to get dressed quickly."

"Okay…" Mary said walking downstairs. Zim followed her shouting in his head.

'Idiot! Why did you say that?' Zim thought. 'In my underwear, come on!'

"Hey, Zim," Mary said breaking his concentration. "You're eye looks a lot better."

"Yes, I've always been a quick healer." Zim said. Mary smirks at him and they continued to walk downstairs. Dib, Mary and Zim went into the kitchen and began their homework. Mary sat in the middle of the table between the two so she would be able to help both of them. Gir and Minimoose went into the kitchen wondering what everybody was doing. Gir saw that his master and the Dib was busy scribbling down in their notebooks looking through their text books while Mary was talking to Zim. Gir placed his head on the table looking at his master sadly. Zim turned to find the next question in his book and noticed Gir staring at him.

"What?" Zim asked annoyed.

"I'm boooorrrrred!" Gir complained.

"Watch T.V. or something." Zim suggested.

"I don't wanna!" Gir screamed startling Dib.

"Here's twenty bucks, go out with Minimoose and shop for a while." Zim said giving Gir the twenty.

"Yay!" Gir screamed. "We get to buy snacks!"

"Nya!" Minimoose squeaked in joy. They both closed the door behind them while they squealed.

"That should buy us some time to get these chapters done." Zim said pleased looking through his book.

"How?" Dib said. "They will probably be back in two minutes to bug us again."

"Not likely, Dib-monster," Zim disagrees. "I gave them a twenty; those guys can do wonders with that kind of money. They will come back by nightfall all mellowed out, you'll see."

Dib shook his head in disbelief and continued to do his math work. An hour later, they were on their last chapter until somebody rang the doorbell.

"Oh, that must be Greg." Zim said getting up from the table to answer the door.

"Who's Greg?" Mary asked.

"Zim's repair man to fix his windows." Dib said pointing his thumb in the direction of Zim's broken kitchen window.

"Oh," Mary said.

Zim opened the door to see that it was Greg. He was wearing his usual light blue repairman uniform with his name stitched to his left breast in red letters. He was an average looking kind of man in his mid-twenties. He had fairly dark complexion, shaved head hair style and was really skinny.

"Hey, Greg, looks like you're on time."

"Don't criticize my tardiness, I made it didn't I?"

"Yes, that's all that matters." Zim said. "Come on in."

Zim let him in and Greg entered the house.

"Where's the broken windows?" Greg asked.

"One is right in here," Zim said. Greg wondered into the kitchen and saw Dib looking at his book.

"Hey, Dib how's skool?" Greg asked him.

"Crappy." Dib answered him.

"Yes, I assumed it still is." Greg laughed. Then he notice there was girl among them and became shocked. Mary saw him staring at her and smiled shyly at him.

"Oh," Zim said. "Greg, this is Mary."

"Nice to meet you." Mary addressed politely.

"Nice to meet you too." Greg responded back to her greeting. Then he looked at Zim smiling.

"Zim," Greg said surprised. "I didn't know you had such a cute girlfriend."

"What?" Zim and Mary said at the same time. Greg started chuckling.

"She just a friend…" Zim denied Greg's accusations.

"Just kidding, you guys, now let me see here…" Greg said examining the window. He removed the plastic bag to have better look at the damage. It had shattered hole in the middle.

"What happened here?" Greg asked Zim.

"Some kids accidentally threw a baseball at it. That's what I assumed because when I got home, there was a baseball in my kitchen." Zim lied. Greg examined the window again and saw that the glass had black smoke marks around the damaged area.

"You're sure that what happened?" Greg asked him again.

"I don't know," Zim said. "I wasn't here."

"Hmmm…With all these broken windows lately, Zim, I think someone is out to get you." Greg said

"No, no," Zim chuckled. "It's not like that; it's just a bunch of kids in my neighborhood being stupid. I don't have any enemies who are smart enough to know where I live."

"I guess you're right, where's the other one." Greg asked.

"Right this way," Zim said walking out of the kitchen with Greg. Dib got up and followed them. Zim led Greg into the bathroom and showed him the damage. The window looked like the glass broke the same way the kitchen window did expect the hole was a lot bigger and so was the smoke damage.

"What the hell happened here?" Greg said shocked by this happening to a bathroom window.

"Oh, it's was his fault!" Zim said pointing to Dib.

"What you do to his window?" Greg asked Dib.

"Ummmm…kicked a soccer ball into it."

"Damn…" Greg said staring at the window impressed. "You should join a team instead of wasting your talents on this boy's windows."

"I guess so…" Dib said.

"So how much to replace them?" Zim asked.

"This window about fifty six dollars, the one downstairs twenty four and for installation forty. So hundred and twenty dollars should cover it."

Zim thought for a moment and agreed

"Yeah, seems fair compared to others." Zim said.

"Great, I'll get started." Greg said walking downstairs.

"There, now you know what you owe me." Zim told Dib. Dib rolled his eyes and they walked downstairs to finish their homework. After about two hours, the installation of his new windows was complete. The gang was in the living room watching T.V. when Greg walked downstairs to greet Zim with his progress.

"Yep, have a look at them," Greg said pleased. "They're all done."

Zim went up to his bathroom and saw it was true. Greg did a splendid job installing the window. Zim went back downstairs to tell him how this pleased him.

"Excellent! Hopefully they last." Zim said pulling out his wallet to pay Greg. Zim handed him the money and Greg took it.

"Thank you, call me anytime." Greg waved at them as he exited Zim's front door. The rest of that Saturday was pretty boring. Mary had to leave because her Dad wanted her home early and Dib promised to take Gretchen out that evening so he was left by himself to do whatever. All he did was watched a marathon on deadliest mammals. He found it quite entertaining when the hippo attacked the camera man. Gir and Minimoose finally came home after the day of having fun with Zim's twenty dollar bill. They told him about their day and how they went to the super market and rode the kiddy airplane ride thirty seven times! Zim sighed and watched the rest of his show. After the show getting boring, Zim went back upstairs to check on Slippers. The bunny was sleeping, so he left it alone and watched the rest of his show. The next thing he knew was it was Sunday. He fell asleep on the couch. He got up and made some breakfast. Gir noticed the new window and was happy to see it fixed. Then he became sad. Zim wondered what was wrong with him but Gir peeped that he wanted to help. Zim thought for a moment what Gir could do and gave him an errand. He would go grocery shopping for snacks he needed for lunch. Gir squealed happily and Zim gave him some money and a list of a few things that he would require. Gir went out the door leaving Zim to check Minimoose's hard drive to figure out how Minimoose was able to levitate objects. Zim sat on his couch with Minimoose on his lap fiddling with the hard drive until the phone rang. Zim placed Minimoose on the couch and picked up the phone to hear that it was Mary on the other line. She was asking if she can come over to play with Slippers. Zim told her she could and in about an hour, Mary was at Zim's house watching Slippers hop on Zim's living room floor. Mary was sitting on the floor making sure he didn't get into the entertainment center. Zim stared at the girl while he was working on Minimoose. He saw how happy she was and somehow it made him feel happy. When Mary wasn't looking he would sneak a few glances at her. Gir walked into the house, saw that Mary was here and dropped the groceries on the floor. Zim yelled at him but Gir didn't care and started hugging her. She smiled and patted his head. Zim closed Minimoose up and picked up the groceries. He saw that Gir gotten everything he asked for without fail. Zim rewarded him with a pat on the head then picked him up and placed him on his lap. Gir knew that it was time for him to do his updates so he took off his doggie suit to expose his true self. Mary watched as Zim worked inside Gir's head. She was impressed how well he looked doing it. She wanted to have a better look into Gir's head but Zim told her to look away for he needed his personal space to complete such a project. Mary nodded and decided it was time for her to go. Mary put Slippers back into his cage and left herself out. Zim said good bye as she did too and continued to work on Gir's upgrade. At about seven o'clock, Gir was updated and ready for to play laser tag with Minimoose outside. Zim let them and they ran outside to play. Zim went upstairs bored out of his mind. He walked around his room and saw a lame video game on the floor. He began playing it until he was to the final boss. Then he died. He threw the game on the floor and cursed. He looked at the clock and noticed it was late and went to bed. He got up that morning with the same usual routine. Got up, dressed, fed Slippers and went to skool. When he arrived at his first period, then he noticed that a woman was sitting in Mr. Holic's desk. He knew what that meant. Substitute. Zim squealed in joy.

"HoraY!" Zim peeped throwing his arms up in the air. "Is he dead?"

"No," Said the substitute confused by Zim's excitement. "Just sick."

"Oh," Zim said disappointed. "Good, good…"

Zim went to his desk and sat down. 'Damn…' Zim thought. Everyone gathered into the classroom to get ready for their lesson. Dib entered the room and noticed Zim's sour expression. Dib sat at his desk next to Zim's.

"What's up?" Dib asked him.

"Mr. Holic's not dead." Zim muttered to him. Dib saw the substitute and smiled.

"Hey, don't complain." Dib said. "At least we don't have to deal with him today."

"I guess you're right." Zim muttered trying to stay positive.

"Hello class, my name is Mrs. Looker and I'm your substitute. Due to some sort of new unknown stomach virus not recognized by mankind, I will be teaching you while Mr. Holic is being studied by our City's scientists. Okay, so he said that if any of you guys didn't finish up the homework, you can work on finishing it up for today. If you done it, free period. We will continue chapter lessons tomorrow."

"Hmm…" Zim hummed to himself. 'I didn't know my spit was a contagious virus to humans, very interesting…' Zim snickered evilly in his seat. Dib heard his silent laughter and glanced over recognizing Zim's evil smile.

"Oh, no…" Dib said smacking his forehead. The rest of the period was tiresome. Zim handed in his homework and slept through the rest of the class. Dib just text Gretchen telling her how bored he was. The bell rang for second period. Dib and Zim left the classroom together for Gym class. They entered the locker room and got dressed in their uniform for the next active activity needed to pass high skool.

"We are going to walk around the track." Mr. Millmere shouted at them as they exit from the gym to the track field.

"Please tell me, you are not going to be spitting in anybody's drink any time soon?" Dib asked Zim.

"I don't know," Zim said walking with Dib. "It depends on who pisses me off."

"Just don't do it." Dib warned him. "You don't want to turn into a biological weapon for the government to use?"

"Fine, I won't" Zim agreed to Dib's reasoning. "Go ahead, take the fun out of my new ability…"

After third period, it was lunch. Zim walked into the cafeteria finding his friends at their usual stop. When he got there, he noticed everybody was staring at him.

"What?" Zim questioned their intent looks.

"It's about time you got here," Tina complaint. "We were all waiting for you."

"Well, excuse me for taking my time to go to lunch. Zim wasn't informed about a meeting!"

"What meeting?" Brian asked.

"Isn't that what you guys are having?" Zim questioned their behavior.

"No, but I do have to tell you all something." Josh said standing up. He looked down and then placed his glances on each of his friends at the table. "I'm giving up on the Gossip Bug."

They exchange confusing glances at Josh.

"What? Why?" Zim asked. "Did you get in trouble?"

"Yeah, almost. Principle Bitters found one of my bugs last Friday so Tina and I went around the skool Saturday removing all my equipment. This alone isn't enough to stop me but I don't want to face Principle Bitters' wrath like she threatened into my microphone."

"That sucks," Dib said. "What am I going to read about when I'm bored?"

"Do not fear, my friends." Josh said. "I'm still going to have the website; I'm just going to gather my information a different direction."

"What do you mean?" Dib asked him.

"Well, when I started bugging the skool, gathering information was way too easy. I knew everything about everybody and sometimes drive me nuts. I want to make my website into something more than just chunks of information but into depth details about particular stories like finding embarrassing secrets or conspiracies about the skool and such; something to really challenge my abilities as a hacker."

"Oh, so you are going to still keep the website?" Zim asked.

"Yes," Josh peeped.

"It's just not going to be that interesting anymore." Zim kid to Josh.

"Hey, it will be interesting, you'll see!" Josh protested.

"Uh-huh, so tell me Josh, why did you start the whole Gossip Bug in the first place? It's not like you wake up and wanted to start a website to dig up dirt on your fellow classmates but the way they act it might be. Please tell me you have a better reason for it." Zim asked him peeking Dib and Gretchen's interest into the subject. Mary, Brian and Tina's interest not so much.

"Well, you see, when I was a freshman, I was picked on a lot. It didn't bother me that much but it became pretty severe after a certain incident during gym class…I ummm…" Josh shuddered trying to find the right words to say for his embarrassing story.

"He caught his underwear on his zipper and accidentally exposed his junk." Brian plainly spoke while eating his potato chips.

"Ah ha hah ha ha ha ha ha!" Dib and Zim laughed at Josh.

"That's not what happened!" Josh argued with Brian.

"Dude, I was there, that's what happened. You got your shirt stuck in your zipper and instead on waiting t o go to the bathroom to fix it, you tugged on your zipper and your shirt and underwear was torn exposing your testicles. He was lucky that the girls didn't see it, they were playing volleyball."

"Ha ha ha ha hah, I guess Josh must have been playing too!" Zim shouted laughing.'

"WHAT? No I WASN'T!" Josh screamed angrily at him but Zim kept on laughing getting Brian to laugh at his joke.

"Are you serious?" Dib said still laughing. "Did that really happen to you?"

"Yes, everyone laughed at me and called me Josh the Crotch after that. It got so bad-"Josh stopped himself waiting for Zim and Dib to stop laughing. It took those two about three minutes to calm down.

"Okay, okay," Dib said taking deep breaths with Zim. "Continue,"

"Thanks, I was wondering when you guys would stop laughing." Josh said annoyed. "As I was saying, after the incident, everyone called me Josh the Crotch. Everywhere I went, they would call me that dreadful name. I tried to make them stop by going to my teachers about it, but they never really helped. The bullying became worse and worse that I would skip days of skool just to not deal with it faking I was sick but my parents weren't that understanding. So one day I returned to skool, everything was normal for once in a long time. I thought the bullying had stopped and the teachers finally stood up for me but I was mistaken. When it was gym class, I opened my locker and it was stuffed with cups, lots of cups it was ridicules and when the gym teacher saw this, he thought I stole them. I explained I didn't and tried to tell him I was innocent but he didn't believe me and gave me detention. Principle Bitters called my parents about this and I was grounded."

"That's horrible!" Zim said. "If anyone tried to stick cups in my locker, I would have beaten the crap out of them."

"I know you would, Zim but the way I'm built, I couldn't even lift a ten pound dumbbell without sweating. So I had to think of something else. You see, when I was sitting alone in my room, I contemplated on how they were going to keep ruining my life if I didn't do anything about it. That's when it hit me. They want to ruin my life for my mistakes I ruin their by exposing theirs. So fueled with anger, I did what any hacker would do. I stormed out of my house with my Dad's security equipment and set up hidden camera's where those jerks like to hang out at lunch, and then got back, I went to skool and dealt with the mockery hoping something embarrassing would show up on my camera. And a few things did. Macky was cheating on his girlfriend with some chick in college. Hue was afraid of tennis balls and Denny still plays tea party with his little sister. I watched my information and followed each of my predators to confirm the stories were true taking pictures of their embarrassing secrets. Then I printed them out, went skool early, and posted them everywhere."

"That was you!" Dib said surprised. "I remember now, those guys were so pissed that they spent the whole day ripping down those fliers."

"I know, I watched them suffer, but realized why stop their suffering for that day. I wanted to continue to let them suffer like they done me so I created my website and posted my pictures there. Of course I went around telling people about my website not claiming it was me so I wouldn't spent a fortune on paper again but word spend rapidly. Before I knew my website had 3000 hits within the week. So I continued doing it not for my revenge but for everyone and anyone who deserved to have their shame displayed on the website. After years of this, my technology improved that I was able to bug everything within the year. Now, it's time for me to stop."

"Why?" Dib asked him.

"Because I became the thing I hated the most. I became a bully." Josh said bowing his head in shame. Dib and Gretchen nodded and Zim looked at him confused.

"So, they deserve it." Zim told Josh.

"I know, but I had people send me emails telling me to not post their stories and it got to me. These people are scared in their own skool because of me and I don't want them to be scared any more. It took me two years of this for me to realize that. I guess I got caught up in the excitement of playing God that I lost sight in why I did this in the first place." Josh continued. "So I want to do something different to help my fellow students exposing the conspiracies in this skool, not the students but the staff this time. I know some juicy crap that goes on at this skool and I want to expose it with some good o' reporting with help from Tina."

"Yeah, I'm going to help." Tina said pleased. "I know a few people in the student skool's council that have some pretty interesting stories."

"Like what?" Zim asked curiously.

"We can't tell you, it's a secret." Tina said placing her pointer finger upwards to her lips.

"We don't have any evidence right now so we are at a blank." Josh said and Tina fussed at him.

"Josh, you were not supposed to tell them that!" Tina protested. Josh rolled his eyes at his girlfriend and continued to talk.

"We'll let you know as soon as we post it." Josh explained and they nodded.

"I can't wait to see what you guys dig up." Dib said. "Good luck!"

"Thank you, what do you guys think about it?" Josh said turning his attention on Brian and Mary.

"I think that would be cool, I would personally want to know why nothing is done to fix the drafty window next to my locker. Just that cold wind blowing my papers away is annoying. I tired talking to the secretary about it but they keep on ignoring me."

"I'll see what I can do." Josh assured him.

"Great." Brian said pleased pulling out his latest book on plane models.

"I think what you are doing is great Josh." Mary said supporting her friend. "You were starting to worry me with all the snooping around but this might be beneficial to the skool. It could really make a difference."

"Yeah, I'm hoping to." Josh said pleased by the support from his friends. They nodded at him and continue to eat their lunch. When Brian flipped the page of his book, he noticed the letter he placed in his book that he found in his locker. Brian picked up the letter and tried to put it in his backpack but it was too late. Josh spotted it.

"What's that?" Josh said pushing his glasses in a better position to see the letter. He noticed that the letter had hearts on the outside of the paper.

"Love Letter!" He shouted and grabbed the piece of paper. Brian tried to get it back from Josh but as soon as Josh grabbed the letter, Tina, Gretchen and Dib were reading it over Josh's shoulder. Brain turned bright red due to his embarrassment. Mary and Zim heard Josh as he read out loud.

"Dear, my Sweetest Brain,

Oh how I wish to tell you how I feel but I will have to write in words instead. Curse my tied tongue. I really really really like you. The way you read your books in class, I watch you and see your face light up with excitement in each page you turn discovering your new world. I try to look away to focus on my studies but history is so boring. Watching you is more interesting instead. I know it sounds creepy, but it's true and you reading are not the only thing I like about you. You're smart and full of great wisdom. When we work together in groups I feel like you're the only one that knows what you're talking about and I can count on to help me out. I know you be reading this that you figured out who I am but if you are not certain, on Valentine's Day I will meet you at your locker after skool tell you how I feel personally. I hope you feel the same way about me when you see me, but the only way I know is when we meet. So I'll be seeing you soon.

Sincerely,

"Your History Babe." Josh finished and burst out in laughter. "This is rich, this is rich, and this is going on my website!"

"No, it's isn't!" Brian said furiously grabbing the letter out of his hands. "You gave up on writing student gossip, remember?"

"Oh, right, sorry Brian." Josh said. Brian placed the letter back into his book and closed it. Brian put his elbows on the table placing his head in his hands. He sighed. Mary placed her hand in Brian's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess I'm a little embarrassed." Brian admitted.

"There is nothing to be embarrassed about." Zim said trying to cheer him up.

"Why?" Brian asked him.

"I don't know." Zim admitted. Brian shook his head.

"Do you know who might have written the letter?" Tina asked him.

"I have an idea and I'm hoping I'm right. See she described herself as Penny. She always in my group in history class. She's so cute and such a sweet heart." Brian described her blushing.

"Brian has a crush, Brian has a crush!" Josh sang teasing Brian.

"Would you quit that?" Brian snapped.

"I'm sorry, it's just that I never see you interested in anybody before." Josh said.

"I know, this is actually the first time I felt like. I just wish I could tell her how I felt but I always was so shy…" Brian admitted.

"Well, you can tell her how you feel when you guys meet tomorrow." Tina said.

"What? Valentine's Day is Tomorrow?" Zim stood up questioning Tina.

"Why, yes it is." Tina peeped frightened by Zim's reaction.

"This is not good!" Zim said starting to sweat.

"What's wrong with you?" Josh asked him as they stared at Zim curiously.

"I'm really really afraid of this holiday because every year, people walk around with meat!"

"So." Josh said.

"I'm extremely allergic to meat, just one touch and it burns my skin and if it stays too long, I will fuse with it!"

"Man, you got to be the most sensitive kid I have ever met in my life and believe me I hung out with really picky kids." Josh said. "This has to do with your skin condition, right?"

"Yes, it does." Zim said.

"What's it called again?" Josh asked him.

"Ummmm…." Zim said. "It was called menavitas something or another I can't really remember but what's important and I mean it, whatever you do, please don't give me meat, please, I will not take."

"Sure, Zim," Josh said.

"Yeah, that's cool, we wouldn't want you to burn up." Gretchen said.

"I'll bring meat just to mess with you." Dib smirked at him.

"No, Dib, don't ruin my day with your meats of evil!" Zim screamed at him.

"Alright, alright, geezs." Dib said eating the cafeteria food.

"Ohhh, it's too bad, I was going to give you some good meat, but I will refrain since you asked." Tina said disappointed.

"Thank you." Zim said looking at each of them hoping they understand his situation and then ate some of his potato chips also. Zim looked over to see that Brian was still distressed by the letter.

"So, what's up, Brian, it's seems your still upset." Zim asked him.

"It's just what if I'm wrong; what if it's not Penny and really some chick I don't know. What would I say to her?"

"If it's not Penny, tell her that you appreciate her feelings but are not interested in her that way. Say that you want to be friends." Dib told him and Gretchen looked at him funny.

"What?" Gretchen said shocked. "You say you want to be friends? That's not what you should do Brian, you should ask her out on a date. Who knows, you might like her."

"That's stupid, what if the girl is really ugly. You don't want to lead her on." Dib said.

"That's not an excuse to not give the girl a chance. You should at least appreciate the fact that she did confess to you and return the favor by asking her out." Gretchen rebutted. Brian became very confused and so did their friends as they watched Dib and Gretchen debate.

"It would be the complete waste of time if you did and had no feelings for her. I would think that would be very cruel than telling her how you feel from the start." Dib rebutted back.

"Well, looks are not everything, Dib; you should still give her a chance even if she did give a Valentine's Day gift." Gretchen said starting to get emotional.

"What?" Dib said confused. "What do you mean; this girl never gave him a Valentine's gift."

"I know, I'm just saying is that if she did, he shouldn't blow her off and keep the gift to eat in front of another girl!" Gretchen said facing Dib. "Because guys who do that, are complete assholes!"

"Whoa, Dib what did you do to piss her off?" Zim said surprised by this outcome waiting for Dib's response. Everyone watched to see what Dib was going to say to that.

"Maybe the girl shouldn't be so secretive in the first place and face the boy to avoid all this trouble?" Dib said angrily. "How is the boy supposed to know, girls are so…"

"What, Dib, what?" Gretchen angrily asked. "I really like to know!"

"Selfish and self-center," Dib finally admitted. "They don't really care about the guy all they care about is how they feel and how they get hurt. They don't care as long as they get what they want."

"Why, you!" Gretchen said getting ready to punch him. Dib cringe waiting for the punch and it never came; Dib looked up at his girlfriend surprised to see her with a tear in her eye. "I care so greatly for you, Dib and you don't even see it. Well, that's just so disappointing…"

Gretchen ran out picking up her backpack trying to reframe herself from crying. Dib stared into space for a minute then bonked his head on the cafeteria table. "Stupid, stupid, stupid…"

"You got that right."

"Shut up, Zim."

* * *

"I hope Dib and Gretchen make up really soon," Mary said petting Slippers in her lap sitting on Zim's couch. Zim heard her as he held Gir pulling him away from riding on Minimoose. Minimoose doesn't like it when people ride him.

"I hope so too, it just felt so awkward watching those two argued," Zim answered her concerns. "Sure, I enjoyed it, but still…"

"I know, I think Dib should apologize." Mary said. Zim nodded.

"He should, but if he doesn't then that's that." Zim placing Gir on the floor. Gir walked around the living room and took off his suit. Then he pulled a rubber piggy out of his head and started making the piggy pretend to fly. Minimoose saw Gir's actions, levitated the pig out of his hands and made the piggy fly for real. Gir started giggling at his flying pig.

"You're his friend, maybe you should talk to him." Mary suggested.

"I don't need to. Knowing Dib, he's probably going to try to win her back with a 'romantic gesture' and fail, that's when I come in and try to clean up his mess. That's how it works." Zim said sighing.

"Sounds like you're getting the short end of the stick." Mary said.

"Yeah, but it's something I must do otherwise the boy becomes a complete mess. Believe me; I hope they make up because I don't want to deal with that and avoiding meat on the same day. Valentine's Day, hump. Such a useless holiday."

"I guess you don't like it that much because of your condition."

"Yeah, it's the one time of the year where I get severely scarred. Why can't people pass out harmless things like, I don't know, crackers or something? Not meat, I would enjoy anything as long as it's not meat." Zim told her. Mary looked down at Slippers, and then came up with an idea.

"Oh, look at the time, I got to get going." Mary said looking at her watch. Zim looked at his DVD player clock.

"But, it's only 7:30."

"I know, but my Dad wants me home." Mary said handing Zim to Slippers. "It is a skool night after all."

"Okay, let me walk you to-"

"No time for that, I'm really late, I should have been home thirty minutes ago. Sorry Zim, see you tomorrow and I know you don't like Valentine's that much but please come to skool."

"Why?"

"Um, no reason, well, see you!" Mary said running out of Zim's house.

"Wow," Zim said amazed by her speed as he watched her bolt out of his house through his neighborhood. "Her Dad must be stricter than I thought. Oh well, Slippers! It's time to put you away. I have no need for you out now so in you go."

Zim placed the spotted bunny in his cage and went up to his room to prepare for the Day of the Meats!

* * *

Valentine's Day arrived for students of Cess Pool View Hi skool. Everyone was passing out slabs of meat to their friends and potential lovers before class started. Everyone seemed so happy and expressing joy except for Zim. He opened the door dressed like a burglar. He had long black pants, long sleeve black shirt, a red scarf on and a black ski mask on wear sun glasses. Everyone stared at Zim wondering who he was. Then a teacher spotted him.

"Hey, you can't wear masks at skool, take that off or you'll be sent to the office!" Mr. Harris threatened Zim.

"But…." Zim protested silently.

"NOW! OR I'll call the cops!" Mr. Harris said pulling out his cell phone.

"What? Hey, it's just me." Zim said taking his sun glasses off and then pulling off his ski mask. Luckily he remembered to clip his antennas to his wig in case this happened. Mr. Harris held out his hand and Zim gave him his mask and glasses. Zim had to face his carnaphobia head on without any protection for his head and eyes. Zim watched his step as he walked through the hallways making sure none of the meat was to touch him. When anyone would come too close he would shout and they would back away. Zim made it to his locker. He turned the dial and then saw that meat was eye level with his to his right.

"Get that away from me!" Zim screamed.

"Zim, relax," Dib said backing up from Zim so he wouldn't smack the meat out of his hands.

"Oh, it's you Dib; I thought the meat was floating." Zim said smiling.

"Why would meat be floating?" Dib asked him.

"I don't know, someone might make it that way, who knows what kind of inventions humans come up with."

"Now, that would be a stupid invention, anyways, what do you think?" Dib said showing Zim the stack of meat. It was four T-bone steaks.

"About what?" Zim asked him.

"About my gift to Gretchen?" Dib revealed to Zim.

"Oh, it looks nice." Zim said.

"Just nice…" Dib said disappointed. "I wanted to wow her."

"No, no it's great." Zim corrected himself. "I'm sure she'll love it."

"Really?" Dib said.

"Yes." Zim said.

"Because I really want to apologize for being such a jerk." Dib said to Zim showing him the meat again.

"Yes! Just get that out of my face!" Zim said pushing Dib plate away from him. Dib grinned, hid the meat behind his back and walked over at Gretchen's locker. Gretchen slammed the door and saw that Dib was standing on the other side of her locker. She glanced over at him pretending to not care.

"Hey," She spoke to him.

"Hey." Dib peeped back. They both looked at each other's feet.

"Look I'm sorry I-"Gretchen said but Dib interrupted.

"No, I should be the one apologizing." Dib said. Gretchen's attention focused on Dib. "I'm sorry that I didn't acknowledge your feeling for me long ago. I was stupid and all I cared about was catching a stupid alien."

"Hey! Do not insult Zim!" Zim snapped in the background but nobody really heard him or care.

"Anyways, I want to give you this." Dib said revealing what he had behind his back holding the four pieces of meat in front of Gretchen. She looked at the meat then started to cry.

"What's wrong, you don't like it do you? Okay I get it, I'll just-"Dib said walking away.

"No, Dib, I…" Gretchen said wiping her tears away smiling. "I really like this."

Gretchen hugged him and he held her in his arms. "Happy Valentine's Day, Gretchen…" Dib whispered to her.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Dib." She whispered back. Zim watched this wanting to throw up. "Okay, I rather be in class right now."

At lunch time, the passing of meats had become even worse for Zim. Zim knew from experience that when so many kids are packed into one room passing out Valentine's meat, he is bound to get burned so he ran quickly to his table. There he met Dib and Gretchen holding each other's hands. Josh and Tina talking about where they should eat tonight and Mary and Brian eating their lunches.

"Did you already give out your meats?" Zim asked them backing away.

"Yes, we did." Mary assured him.

"Good." Zim said sitting down next to her. Mary smiled at him then looked away.

"What? Is there pepperoni in my hair?" Zim said feeling his scalp for possible meats.

"No…" Mary chuckled at him. "Nothing…"

'Okay…' Zim thought. 'What's wrong with this girl?'

"Mary, are you sick?" Zim asked her. Mary shook her head.

"No, I don't feel sick. Why are you asking?"

"I don't know, you're the one that is acting strangely. I was just concerned for your well being that's all." Zim said nonchalantly sipping his juice. Mary grinned and Zim looked at her confused still sipping the straw for his juice. Zim glanced over at Brian who was not reading his book. He was picking at his food tray scooping the corn on and off his spoon. He knew that he was nervous about meeting his secret admirer so he didn't bother him. He just watched Josh and Tina argue about which restaurant would be most romantic to go to. The bell rang and lunch was over with. The next few classes where really boring; in History his teacher was talking about greatest couples in history like Cleopatra and Mark Anthony just enough to make Zim question human emotions.

'Stupid, humans,' Zim thought. 'Killing yourself because your lover is dead; that's just stupid!'

In Science class was a different tone for he had a test. He completed it in ten minutes and placed his head down on his desk. He already studied enough about the Earth long ago when he was trying to conquer it. Then finally in Math he finished his class chapter work up quickly as well.

'This stuff is easy compared to what Mary's teaching me,' Zim thought putting down his pencil walking over to Mrs. Roster's desk.

"Mary…" Zim muttered softly thinking about her awkward smiling earlier. Without paying much attention to where he was going, he tripped over Mrs. Roster's garbage can and landed head first into her white board smearing today's notes with his face. He landed on the floor and Mrs. Roster got out of her chair. The students that saw Zim tripped laughed at him.

"Zim, are you alright." Mrs. Roster said helping Zim up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Zim said getting up brushing himself off. "Here's you chapter, Can I use the restroom?"

"Of course," Mrs. Roster said taking the chapter work and giving Zim the hall pass. She didn't believe in exploding hall passes. It was a decorated piece of card board that said hall pass on it. Zim took the pass and headed to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and wiped smudged marker dirt off his face.

"That was weird," Zim said out loud. "Why did I trip? You need to be more careful, Zim! You're almost done for the day. You can't afford anymore mess ups!"

After Zim gave himself a little pep talk, he returned to class, gave back the pass, and sat back down at his seat. The bell rang and skool was finally over. Zim went to his locker and grabbed his books for English and History. He closed his locker and saw that Mary was coming towards him. He waved at her and she waved back.

"Hello, Zim," Mary greeted him. "Getting ready to leave?"

"Yep, have work today, which is surprising because I usually get Tuesday's off but someone called in sick. Wish I thought of that..." Zim muttered to her. She giggled at his joke.

"That's too bad, well; umm…Remember what you said yesterday wishing that people gave out crackers for Valentine's Day?" Mary asked him. Zim rubbed his chin trying to remember.

"Oh, yeah, right, anything but meat, I really hate meat, it's disgusting, smelly and it came from an animal, and-"

"Here you are." Mary said holding out her Valentine's gift. Zim stopped his ranting and looked the gift. It was a bunch of little heart shaped cookies wrapped in a saran wrap in a form of a bag tied together with a red balloon ribbon. Zim looked at the flustered girl then took the bag from her.

"I thought that it wasn't fair that you were the only one that had to get nothing for Valentine's Day so I got you something different. Since I knew you liked cookies, I thought I would make you some." Mary explained. She looked up at him and saw that he was happy.

"These are for Zim?" Zim said surprised. Mary nodded. Zim opened the bag and took a bite out of one of his cookies. He smiled. "These are so goooood!"

"I'm glad you like them." Mary said pleased.

"You're cookies are the best! Thank you Mary! You just made my day!" Zim said happily.

"Great, well, see you tomorrow." Mary said walking off.

"Wait, don't you want hang out later to play with Slippers?"

"No, sorry, I can't. I promised to clean out the garage for my Dad."

"On Valentine's Day? That doesn't sound fun." Zim said.

"It isn't, I've been putting it off for a while and he's coming back tomorrow. So I have to clean it up. It will be time consuming but it has to be done." Mary said.

"I see, well then thanks again and I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Zim waved her good bye as she ran off to catch her bus. Zim scratched his head at her nature of hurrying, placed the bag of cookies in his backpack and walked to his bus stop to go to work. At work he marked off the Valentine's meat fifty percent off. He thought of Mary's gesture in the back of his head while changing prices.

'Hmmm… This meat is so cheap now, so much work. Maybe I should get Mary something; she did made those amazing cookies. I'm just paying her back for a really neat gift, right? Right, I wondered if she'll like this.'

Zim stared down at the meat wrapped in plastic and smiled. 'perfect.'

After work, he paid for the steak and caught his bus home but instead of pulling the cord at his stop, he traveled a little further to Mary's stop and pulled the cord. He got off at her stop and walked through her neighborhood. Zim found her house and knocked at her door.

"Comin'" Zim heard her voice and hid the meat behind his back. Mary opened the door and saw Zim was standing there.

"Hey, Mary," Zim peeped he saw that she was wearing blue shorts and a black tee shirt. Her hair was pulled up in a pony tail.

"Zim, this is a surprise, what are you doing here?" Mary asked him shocked.

"I just wanted to repay you earlier for making me those great cookies so here you are." Zim said handing her the wrapped up steak. "They were on sale at my work so I was like what the Hell maybe you would like it."

"Thank you, Zim," Mary said taking it out of Zim's hands. "You really didn't have to repay me; just seeing you happy was payment enough."

"Aw, well, you know…" Zim said rubbing the back of his head. "I'll let you get back to your cleaning, see you later."

"I'm done with my cleaning the garage and watching T.V. Would you like to come in?" Mary asked him.

"Whatcha' watching?" Zim asked her.

"Just some reruns of Crazy T.V., some of them are really funny skits." Mary chuckled watching the T.V. from the porch.

"Like the ones with Stewart in them?" Zim asked her.

"Yeah, there were a few."

"Neat! I love that adult-kid!" Zim peeped happily walking into Mary's house. Mary and Zim walked into the living room where the T.V. was on showing commercials. Zim sat down on her couch and Mary walked into the kitchen to put the steak away. Zim stared at the T.V. and started watching the funny skit.

"Ha ha ha ha, he hit that guy with a baseball bat!" Zim pronounced to Mary laughing.

"Really?" Mary said quickly walking into the living to see the actor's reaction to the bat smashing. "They had to be acting."

"No, I don't believe so," Zim said shaking his head still laughing. "The way that guy reacted, it had to be real."

"Oh, my…" Mary said surprised how violent comedians could get sat right next to Zim. He felt the presence of the red head as she sat on the same couch cushion as him. Zim moved a couple of inches away to become more comfortable. Zim watched the show and quickly lost interest in it. Instead his eyes lingered to Mary's ponytail. He saw that it was puffy like a cloud and wanted to touch it but didn't. He kept his hands on his lap. Zim watched the girl as she reacted to the next skit covering her mouth with her right hand while she was laughing. Zim saw that her hand was pretty tiny then his eyes lingered from her hand to her chin, then his eyes moved down studying the curve of her neck. Her skin was so smooth and light that it reminds him of a sheet that he would use to wrap around him for comfort. Zim laid his right arm on top of the couch right over Mary's head. Zim watched her even more as she started giggling again. Her laughter made her face brighten up that he gently smiled at her. Mary turned her head to look at Zim. He saw her eyes glisten a beautiful golden brown that it was breathtaking. Zim felt something in his body ache that made him feel so...He became startled by this unknown feeling that he jumped up from the couch and stood up suddenly. Mary became puzzled by Zim's actions.

"HOW?" Zim shouted pointing staring at her new found beauty that Zim discovered in her.

"How what?" Mary asked confused.

"How did you get so pretty like that?" Zim shouted still surprised. Mary blushed then turned away looking down at her hands.

"I don't know what you mean…" Mary told him. Zim gasped at her blushing and felt this feeling grow even stronger.

"Quit doing that!" Zim demanded.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong!" Mary shouted back defending herself from Zim's strange accusations.

"I should go!" Zim snapped then started walking out the living room to the front door.

"Okay, see ya-"Mary was about to say but Zim already slammed the door behind him. Mary stared back at her hands, thought about what Zim asked her and smiled.

Zim on the other hand was walking frustrated to the bus stop.

"What's wrong with me?" Zim shouted. "Why am I such a freak?"

* * *

Author's note: Yeah, yeah, it was a Valentine's Day kind of chapter, but hey, people are still selling 75% off V-Day chocolates at store, right, or did I miss that sale?


	22. Love Struck by a Cow

Author's note: Another chapter, nuff said. I hope the grammar is not as bad as the last chapter, I mean come on, "Mary handed Zim to Slippers." How is that physically possible! Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 22: Love Struck by a Cow

Dib walked Gretchen home from their night out, he decided it was time for him to return home as well. When he came home, he stood in front of his doorway and heard that there was a noise coming from inside. He knew it had to be Gaz so he turned the knob, but it was locked. Dib knocked on the door, but no answer. He assumed Gaz left the T.V. on again. Dib dug around his pockets, found his key and put it into the key hole. He turned the key and knob then opened the door. There he saw his sister sitting on the couch watching T.V. Gaz turned her head to see it was Dib, and then she went back to watching her show.

"Gaz, why didn't you answer the door?" Dib questioned her sister.

"I didn't know you were there."

"I knocked like four times!"

"Whatever." Gaz said getting up from her seat and headed upstairs. Dib shook his head from her sister's actions then walked into the kitchen to retrieve a soda. He grabbed his favorite brand and went back into the living room. He picked up the remote and changed the channel to the theme song to his favorite long running show on television, Mysterious Mysteries. Dib sat on the couch placing his soda upon a coaster on the table, and then picked up his notebook and pen. After the song was over, Dib focused his direction back on the T.V. screen to his favorite host.

"Hello believers, I would like to say before we start, today is the first episode of our 30th season. I would like to ask you, why? Why? Why do you guys keep watching this crap? It's hasn't been any good after season 3. Why are we still on the air?" The host turned his head shouting to his producer who wasn't on camera.

"Man, if you don't like hosting Mysterious Masteries, quit already. That's what I did. I quit being a Paranormal Investigator and now I want to be a Scientist. I just need to figure out which one I want to be…" Dib said looking at his list of potential scientists he was considering.

"Well, I don't want to be Inventor like my father, it would cut way too much into my social life. Also I don't want to be a Biologist. They have to work with monkeys and I don't like monkeys. Maybe I can be an Astronomer and work at NASA Place, but NASA is full of jerks…" Dib said scratching Biologist off his list. Dib kept studying his list while Gaz walked downstairs getting ready to leave. Gaz was dressed in a black T-shirt with an army tank on it with Call of Obligation written in bold white letters under the tank. She wore her skull necklace along with black knee length skirt and purple leggings. Dib heard her stomping about heading towards the door with her black steel toe boots.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dib asked her. Gaz stopped at the hallway, sighed and turned around to face her brother.

"I'm going to a Call of Obligation video game competition that's at the Mall with Xen. We are going to kick some serious nerd butt to win the grand prize of one thousand dollars." Gaz explained grasping her fist in coming victory.

"There's a Call of Obligation Competition on Valentine's Day?" Dib said surprised then he laughed. "I guess they held it on Valentine's Day for those who couldn't find a date. Talk about pathetic."

"Watch your mouth," Gaz threatened. "Some of us prefer to spend this day competing than being alone."

"But you have a boyfriend; couldn't you guys go out and have dinner or something?" Dib asked her.

"This is going out," Gaz told her brother. "Xen and I decided to do this instead of spending money on a meaningless dinner. We are going to team up and beat their virtual butts."

"What happens when you guys have to face off?" Dib asked her.

"Then we fight, duh…" Gaz said giving him that look. "We are not planning to lose and thanks to Zim's generous donation we were set to compete."

"I still couldn't believe that you got Zim to pay you fifty dollar to test Tak's ship for Skoodge. You could have done it for free, you know. He's already having a hard time as it is trying to make ends meet supporting himself and his robots."

"He wouldn't have such a hard time if he let Dad lend him some money."

"You know damn well that Zim is too proud to depend on anyone. He wants to live on his own and besides if took any money; he would have to move back in with us. Do you really want him living with us again?"

"Oh God no!" Gaz shrieked remembering the utter chaos of her preteen youth having to chase psychotic robots out her room and Dib and Zim's constant arguing with each other.

"Okay then, but seriously Gaz, why did you have to charge him fifty dollars? Could have you gone a little steeper on the price?"

"I could have if he asked; he knows that I don't give out my piloting services for free. Girl has to make money somehow besides I could have not helped and watch him fail to pilot the ship. You know he doesn't know how to control Irken machinery after that operation." Gaz reminded him.

"Yeah, who knew that his Pak held all the memory of his piloting skills." Dib said gravely. "That's the only thing he doesn't remember."

"Hey, at least the operation was a success. He would have suffered if you guys didn't remove his Pak." Gaz said crossing her arms.

"I know, well, how long are you planning to stay out?" Dib asked her.

"'til two." Gaz said.

"What?" Dib said shocked. "But it's a skool night!"

"So, I'll be back by then, sleep for a couple of hours and go to skool." Gaz explained. "Xen will drive me home."

"Dad wouldn't approve of this one bit if he was here and aren't you supposed to be grounded?" Dib asked her.

"Not anymore," Gaz answered him. "Can I go now? Xen is waiting for me."

"Fine, whatever, but you are going to skool tomorrow. I don't want to hear that you have cramps because you used that last week and I doubt you have the reproduction organs of a chicken."

"I really did have cramps you asshole!" Gaz said grabbing Dib by his collar of his cloak threatening to punch.

"Okay, okay, I believe you, heh, heh, please let go." Dib said lifting his arms up surrendering to his sister. Gaz let go of him and headed to the door.

"Okay, have fun and tell Xen I said hi." Dib said fixing his collar. Gaz stopped and turned around with a nasty look to her face.

"You have no right to call him Xen." Gaz said turning the house dark by her anger of her brother's ignorance. "Only I and the gaming community are privilege with such honor, you got that?"

"Fine, tell Adam I said hi." Dib said sitting back down on the couch.

"Will do," Gaz said turning the room back to its normal shade of light. "Don't wait up."

"Why would I?" Dib said.

"Jerk." Gaz muttered.

"Freak." Dib muttered back then looked up at his sister as she stared at her brother. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will." Gaz said. "Good night." Gaz was finally able to open the door to leave after her brother's bickering concerns. When she was about to close the door behind her to meet Xen in his car, Zim ran up the steps, pushed Gaz to the side, opened the door and entered the Membrane residence. Gaz fell into the bushes. Xen got out his car to help Gaz.

"What the Hell his problem?" Xen shouted to her. She saw that Xen was wearing the same shirt she was wearing and light blue jeans that were the same color of his eyes. His green Mohawk and pierced ears, eye brows and nose gave him a punk look to his persona. He offered his hand and Gaz grabbed it. He pulled her up to her feet and saw she was twitching with anger.

"He's dead!" Gaz screamed frightening her boyfriend. Gaz opened the door and found Zim standing in front of Dib trying to tell him something.

"What do you mean he's not here?" Zim questioned Dib.

"He's not, don't you remember?"

"Oh right," Zim said remembering that Prof. Membrane was gone for a couple of weeks. "Maybe I can call him, where are those stupid floating monitors."

"What's going on?" Dib asked him as Zim searched around the kitchen for the monitors. Xen entered the house and saw a greenish blur run into the kitchen and Gaz following him. Xen stood at the doorway and waved hello to Dib.

"Adam, hey how's it going?" Dib greeted him.

"It's going." Xen said putting his hands in his pockets.

"Why are you guys still here?" Dib wondered to him.

"Oh, that ass-wad pushed Gaz into the bushes so she's going to beat him up." Xen explained leaning against the door.

"Oh, Zim…" Dib said shaking his head. "You stupid doomed fool."

"Yeah…" Xen agreed as they listened.

"Oh, hey Gaz. Come to help me find the monitors? Good, I can't seem to find those stupid, what are you doing with that vase? NO, NO, Stay Back! AHHHHHHHH! IT BURNSS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT? NO NO NOT THE FACE! OWWWWW! WHAT DID ZIM DO TO DESERVE THIS?"

Dib and Xen cringed when they heard some crashing sounds and Zim screaming.

"AAHHHHHH!STOP THROWING PLATES AT ME YOU PSYCHO! NO NO I DIDN'T MEAN THAT! AHHHHH! OWWWWW! OH THE PAIN THE PAIN! I'M SORRY!" Zim screamed as she threw him into the living room. Gaz came into the living room and bent her waist with her hands on her hips looking at Zim flinching on the floor.

"That's for pushing me in the bushes, you creep! Let's go!" Gaz demanded Xen.

"Right away my Dark Queen of Doom and DESTRUCTION!" Xen shouted proudly as they closed the door behind them. Dib bent down to help Zim off the floor. Zim's head had steam rising from it along with a couple of bruises on face and arms. Dib wrapped Zim's arm around his shoulder and placed Zim on the couch. Zim cringed from the sudden beating as he was placed on the couch. Dib stood in front of Zim curious by his intrusion.

"Why do you need to talk to Dad?"

"I have symptoms, HORRIBLE symptoms that Membrane said to be true! The pain, the horrible feelings in my body; it's so confusing and I-"

"Wait, back up." Dib said holding his hand out hoping for a pause. Zim stopped babbling. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember when we were at dinner and Membrane said that I would have heavy feeling in my chest. I'm having it right now! Oh the nervousness! The embarrassment! I made a complete fool of myself in front of Mary I-"

"What? Mary?" Dib said even more interested in Zim's ranting. "Start from the beginning."

"Okay, Mary gave me some cookies earlier and I went to her house after work to pay her back by buying her meat. She invited me in, we were sitting on the couch and I totally freaked out! I freaked out by looking at her and the next thing I knew; she looked pretty and told her. Then I ran out of the house."

Dib held his hand to his mouth trying to stop himself from laughing to muster enough strength to ask Zim another question. "How does this, eh, heavy feeling in your chest, make you feel?"

"I feel, I feel, good…" Zim said. "That's what's freaky about it."

"And you only feel that way around Mary, right?" Dib said smiling.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Zim asked him amazed. Dib couldn't hold in his laughter anymore.

"AH hha ha ha ha hah ha ha h ha ! Dib laughed hysterically at the confused alien. Zim stared at him offended.

"Hey, what's so funny? I fail to see the humor of the disease of Ziiimmm!"

"HaH hA hA hAH ha ha ha, Ah ha ha ha," Dib laughed pointing to him holding his stomach.

"Would you stop laughing?" Zim asked. "You're starting to get annoying."

Dib breathed in a bit and sat next to Zim still smiling at him.

"Okay Dib…You're creeping me out…." Zim said backing away from him.

"Zim, there is nothing wrong with you." Dib finally said.

"There isn't?"

"No, you just in love."

"Love? WHAT! Me, nonsense!" Zim quickly denied. "It has to be something else than that!"

"Oh come on, Zim don't be stupid!" Dib said. "Don't tell me you're ignorant to your own emotions. I see the way you treat her. You always act so kind, nice to her especially last Saturday when you pushed me aside your couch so you can sit next to her."

"It's my couch and I like sitting in the middle." Zim defended his action.

"Yeah…Uh-huh. Zim, don't be a fool. I know you like her, even Gir and Minimoose knows you like her and its pretty hard to get those robots aware of their surroundings."

"What gives you that idea?" Zim asked him.

"Gir came over last Sunday after shopping to tell me. He said, 'Master's head in stuck in the clouds with all the sheepys because of Mary-Moo-Cow. Zim fallen for her, woot!'" Dib mimicked Gir's voice and actions. Zim was dumbfounded by Gir's observation.

"Why did he visit you?" Zim asked him.

"To see if I had any leprechauns to contribute to your list."

"I didn't request a leprechaun."

"That's what I told him and then he said how happy he was that you looked happy and so on." Dib explained.

"No I won't believe that I love her." Zim said crossing his arms stubbornly. "Even if Gir, Minimoose, and you believe that. You won't convince me otherwise."

"I'm not here to convince you, Zim. I'm just saying what I think it is and believe me, Zim, you're not sick." Dib assured him.

"If you say so..." Zim said feeling the cut on his cheek. Dib sat next to Zim concerned about his denial.

"Zim, why would it be so bad to love?" Dib asked him. "Do you believe your species are incapable of love?"

"What, no, don't be ridiculous." Zim shouted. "We do, we just never had a reason for it. We were born to be soldiers and conquer worlds. There's no place for it."

"That's kind of sad."

"I suppose so but that's how it is." Zim said sternly.

"It doesn't have to be that way for you." Dib said. "You're not part of that world anymore."

"And what world am I part of now?" Zim asked him. "I can't go around anywhere in my true form and forced to live a double life."

"Hey, it not that bad, at least you don't have to obey those idiots," Dib said reminded him. "And you're not alone. You have Gir and Minimoose, and even us. How many friends did you have when you lived on Irk?"

"Thousands." Zim lied to him smirking.

"I'll have to call bullshit on that one."

"You got me, I had none. I was always the trouble maker. Nobody bothered talking to me or even come near me due to my incredible ability to explode things. Perhaps it was better that way." Zim said crossing his arms over his head leaning on the couch. "Tell me something Dib, do you feel like you want to be someone else?"

"Sometimes if I get in trouble, then I would switch bodies and they would suffer my punishment, wouldn't that be cool?" Dib said thinking of great invention. Zim looked at him not surprised by his statement. "Oh, you're being serious."

"Yeah, I was," Zim said then sighed. "Sometimes I wish I was human."

"Why?" Dib said. "Being human is boring. Look at you compared to me. You have super strength without having to bulk for it. I think that's a lot cooler than being human."

"I know, but it would be a lot less complicated if I was."

"It doesn't have to be if you told her."

"Back to Mary, again. Come on, let it go. I'm not in love with her."

"I didn't say anything about that."

"Wait, you said, ah never mind." Zim tried ignoring him. "I don't love her at all even though she's smart."

"Yep she's pretty smart." Dib agreed.

"And funny."

"Okay…" Dib continued to agree awkwardly.

"And she's so good with Gir and Minimoose. Most people would run away from those two by now."

"That's a pretty good quality." Dib admitted.

"She's so nice, sweet and accepting. I never had anyone tell me that I wasn't ugly until her. I asked her and she said no. Those cookies she made me were pretty good. She made those for me because she thought it wasn't fair that I didn't get anything but to be perfectly honest, I really didn't care. I'll have to admit that was considerate of her."

"Having someone being considerate of you sure feels nice, doesn't it?"

"It does, it sure does…" Zim said leaning forward placing his elbow on his knee, then his head leaned on his hand as he continued to describe. "Just thinking the way she looked at me was amazing. Her eyes sparkled. Do human eyes sparkle?"

"They're not supposed to…" Dib said.

"Well, hers did." Zim smiled then felt the feeling of his chest rise again. He sat up and looked down at his chest curiously then at Dib and he nodded.

"I really do love her!" Zim shouted surprised.

"Yep, congratulations, you finally figured it out, you moron."

"I have to tell her!" Zim said standing up walking to the door.

"What?" Dib shouted astonished.

"I have to tell her. She's in my mind now, I must have her!" Zim said getting ready to open the door, but luckily Dib stopped him by standing in front of it.

"No, no, no, no," Dib said shaking his head. "No…"

"Why not? Aren't we supposed to express our love?"

"Yes, but not at thirty minutes to midnight you're not. If you storm up to her house and confess, she going to think you're a creep and you want her to like you right?"

"Oh, I wouldn't care if she liked me or not as long as she was with me."

"But would it be more enjoyable if she liked you back?" Dib asked him. Zim thought about it and blushed.

"Yes, that would be enjoyable." Zim said then Dib placed his hand on Zim's shoulder.

"Then take it slow and see what happens. You just realized you liked the girl, doesn't mean you have to confess to her immediately. This isn't a Hollywood movie. If you don't know she likes you, and confess too soon then she's not going to take you seriously and where would you be now?"

"Oh," Zim said. "Also, I shouldn't confess until she knows that I'm Irken, right?"

"That would be wise."

"Wow, thanks Dib from stopping me from making a horrible mistake." Zim told him.

"No problem, I wouldn't want you to make a complete fool out of yourself, well at least not yet. I want to see how this turns out." Dib said by this upcoming circumstance.

"Are you kidding, with my amazing seductive skills, I'll have Mary begging to be with me!"

"Ah ha ha ha," Dib laughed. "And how are you going to do that?"

"Ummmm….I don't know." Zim said. "Perhaps I need to do a little more research. Dib, how did you hook up with Gretchen?"

"What? Now you want to know?" Dib said shocked.

"Sure, it would benefit me to know."

"Ah, I can't believe you!"

"What?" Zim asked.

"You said you never wanted to know."

"I never said anything like that."

"Yeah you did when you came when we were doing that plasma cannon project, remember?"

Zim and Dib thought about the incident…

* * *

Two months ago.

"Hello, Prof. Membrane," Zim greeted him at his front door. "I was wondering if Dib's home. We're supposed to be working on our Plasma Cannon project."

"Of course he is." Prof. Membrane chuckled. "Where else would he be?"

"Good point." Zim agreed.

"Well, come on in. I'll let him know you are here." Prof. Membrane said letting Zim into his home.

"Okay, then." Zim said entering the house. Prof. Membrane went upstairs as Zim went into the kitchen. He sat down at the table and brought out his notes for the design of the cannon out of his backpack. Dib ran out of his room with excitement slid down the stairs' railing into the living room. Dib, knowing that Zim was in the kitchen, sneaked up behind him.

"Hi Zim!" Dib screamed. Dib's spook made Zim jump up in his seat. Zim turned around to see it was Dib who was smiling down at him.

"What's wrong with you?" Zim shrieked. "Don't startle me! If I was still an invader, I could have killed you in a millisecond!"

"And what would you kill me with, your pencil?" Dib said pointing at the pencil Zim was holding between his fingers. Zim looked at his pencil.

"Yes, I would have with this pencil. I would have ummm…Stick it in your ear?" Zim awkwardly threatened.

"Ah ha ha ha," Dib laughed. "I'd like to see you try!"

Dib took a seat across from Zim and started looking at the designs of the cannon.

"You seem to be in a good mood, Dib." Zim said noticing Dib's silly smirk. "What's up? Is Mysterious Mysteries having another marathon tonight?"

"No and if you must know, the marathons are on Fridays at midnight."

"Why watch the show at that crappy time slot? They are all reruns anyways."

"Yes, but they show the good episodes at night. Don't you see?"

"No, but if that's not the case, then what's making you so happy?"

"Well, I met a girl and…" Dib started to say but suddenly got cut off by Zim's hand gesture to stop.

"Say no more, leave me out of it."

"What?" Dib said suddenly confused.

"You heard me. Leave me out of it. I am tired of cleaning up your mistakes."

"What mistakes?"

"Your break ups." Zim said.

* * *

1st break-up.

"Hey, Dib." Zim said knocking on Dib's door to his room. "Are you here?"

"Go away!" Dib shouted from behind the door. Zim ignored Dib's warning and entered the room anyways. "No, I want my game back. Gir have been driving me crazy about it for weeks and I can't take it!

There he saw Dib lying on his bed with the covers pulled over his head.

"What's up with you? Are you dying?"

"I might as well be." Dib muttered. Zim saw the game on his desk and took it.

"This is no concern of mine. I got the game. Feel better Dib!" Zim peeped getting ready to leave.

"My girlfriend broke up with me." Dib finally said.

"Okay…"

"She said I was too clingy and needed her space."

"I don't know why you are telling me this, but okay see you later." Zim said getting ready to leave once more.

"Wait. Can you hang out with me for a bit?"

"Now why would I want to do that when you're like this? You're a total wreck! No, I'm leaving."

"Come on, I helped you out when you needed it!"

"You're not going to let that go are you?"

"Nope." Dib peeped.

"Okay, fine." Zim finally gave in and sat on Dib's bed.

"Am I too clingy?"

"Yes!"

2nd Break-up

"She said I was too distant." Dib said astonished by his break up.

"Well, she is in high skool and you are still a middle skooler. Trust me, it was for the best." Zim said playing his hand held video game. "Agh! Cheating Pig! Remind me why I bought this game again?"

3rd Break up

"Come on, this one last a week and you're crying about it!" Zim said looking at Dib who was crying on his couch.

"It was the best week of my life!" Dib sobbed.

"No, it wasn't. The best week of your life was Spring Break at that Swollen Eye Ball Convention where you actually went up in space to walk on the moon."

"Oh, yeah."

* * *

"And let us not forget 'one that we will never be named'." Zim said reminding Dib of his current ex that cheated on him.

"Yeah, he was my acting partner my ass. She didn't even take drama."

"Look, Dib you have horrible taste in girls. I don't know why you haven't just given up already. Being alone the rest of your life isn't so bad. It would be a lot easier."

Dib shook his head at Zim's ignorance. "Maybe for you, you cold Irken but for me, I rather not to be alone the rest of my life. I know somewhere out there is my soul mate and I believe she might be the one."

"Whatever, just don't come crying to me if this girl breaks your heart in a week or so." Zim said writing in his notes.

* * *

"Oh now I remember." Zim said. "And how long has it been?"

"Two months going to be three, thank you very much." Dib said proudly.

"That is quite impressive but not as amazing as Josh and Tina's relationship. Those guys have been going out for nearly a year." Zim informed his friend.

"What? A year?" Dib said surprised. "I didn't know they were together that long."

"Yeah, those guys were arguing about it during lunch."

"Wow, a whole year! That's really remarkable. I wish I was with her a year before…" Dib said slightly ashamed.

"Well, your two month status will have to do for my research so tell me, how did you get Gretchen to be your girlfriend?" Zim asked interested. Dib looked up into his mind and rubbed his fingers along his chin.

"It all started in Biology when we were assigned as partners in a research project. I didn't think I would like her at that time but once we started working together I realized how cool she really was. She would argue that the loch-ness monster not existing and I would try to prove her wrong. We would debate a lot about paranormal ideas."

"I didn't know Gretchen was into that paranormal crap."

"Me neither and hey, paranormal science is not crap! It's a legitimate field of study and you know it!"

"Okay, okay, stop being so defensive, now you were saying."

"Oh, right so after that project I asked her out and we went out to eat, walked around a bit and well, heh, heh, you know." Dib smirked blushing.

"You know what?" Zim asked confused. Dib smacked his forehead with his palm in response to Zim's ignorance.

"I kissed her! Duh, come on, Zim!"

"Ohhhhhh…."

"Wait, do Irkens show affection by kissing?"

"Of course we do, I saw it on T.V. one time when I was a smeet."

* * *

Flashback into Zim's childhood

Zim escaped from Smeet-care once again to play somewhere else.

"I'm bored! What is there for Zim to do with this boredom?" Zim screamed in his squeaking child-like voice. While walking into the hallways, Zim spotted a dark empty room with a T.V. on brighten up with every flash of white screens.

"Oh, T.V.!" Zim peeped while he walked into the room and sat down on floor. He watched the screen of an Irken male and Irken female talking to each other.

"This is boring!" Zim said and was about to find the remote until he noticed they started doing something very unusual. "What the-? What are they doing?"

"Oh, Tej, I love you so!" The Irken female actress cried out as Tej held her kissing her neck. Then she locked lips with him.

"Whoa!" Zim peeped and sat right back down curiously watching the couple.

"I can't stand to be away from you any longer Suze, but I can't anger the Armada I have to leave tomarrow on a mission of doom. I don't know when I would be back. It may take years for me to return."

"Then perhaps we should have one night." Suze suggested holding his hand leading him to her chamber. Tej followed her, closed her door and then-CENSORED FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION BECAUSE THE COMPUTER BRAINS LOVE YOU!-They walked out of the chamber and holding hands.

"Huh?" Zim peeped confused. "What just happened?"

* * *

"Now I know what those two were doing…" Zim said out loud thinking of that old soap opera.

"What?" Dib asked him.

"Nevermind, so you are saying that you guys got together because you kissed?"

"Pretty much." Dib peeped.

"Interesting…" Zim said rubbing his chin. "Then I know what I have to do, I have to kiss Mary!"

"What?"

"Then she will like me!"

"No, you don't kiss her in order for her to automatically like you. It doesn't work that way!"

"Really?"

"No! You do that and you will lose her for sure!"

"Ah, human social relationships are so confusing!" Zim screamed in frustration. "Okay, so Dib if I can't kiss her and I can't confess to her, what should I do?"

"Wait."

"What?"

"Wait until it is the right moment and see what happens."

"That's stupid; you had to wait until the 'right moment' to kiss Gretchen." Zim asked peeved.

"Yes," Dib said proudly.

"And been going out for how long?"

"Three months,"

"I see. So how will I know that it's the right moment?" Zim asked him.

"You'll know."

"Ahhhh," Zim sighed and got up from the couch. "I get it now, all a big mystery for Zim. Well, I had enough confusing nonsense and what not from you for one night. I'm heading home."

"Please, tell me not going to do something stupid after you leave." Dib asked Zim as he opened the front door.

"I'm not going to do something stupid after I leave. I'm done." Zim said smashing the door as he left. He walked to his house thinking about the 'right moment' crap he heard from Dib. He never had this problem on his planet. If you loved someone you would confess and they either accept or don't. No hiding this desire and waiting. Zim hated to wait but he realized that he had to be considerate of Mary's feelings too after all he did love her.

He entered his house and saw that Gir was on the couch eating one of the Valentines steaks he received. The other meats were in a pile sitting in the middle of the living room floor. Zim looked disgusted by the pile.

"You better clean this up after you eat it all. I don't want to slip on meat juice early in the morning with a burning scar on my ass." Zim warned Gir.

"Okay dokee, Minimoose will clean it up. He likes cleaning." Gir told his master.

"I don't think Minimoose likes cleaning. He does it because I program him because you're too lazy."

Gir heard his remark and started to tear up.

"No, no I'm sorry Gir, I didn't mean it. Yes, Minimoose loves cleaning up your messes."

"Yay!" Gir said as he threw his steak up in the air so high that it hit the ceiling. The red juice from the medium rare steak dripped as gravity took its course. Gir caught the steak as it fell into his mouth. Gir chewed the steak into bite size pieces fitting it into his mouth. Zim winced at the sight of Gir swallowing the slab of meat.

"Ewwwww…Well, I'm going to bed. Good night."

"Nighty, night!" Gir spoke to him. "Don't let the jumping sheep bite!"

"I will never let sheep devour me!" Zim pronounced and walked up the stairs. He took his contacts and wig off placing them on the sink in the bathroom and went into his room. He sat down on the end of his bed pondering to himself. He stood up to see Slippers feeding on the rabbit pellets, opened the caged, and picked him up. Slippers looked up at Zim, wiggled out of his hands, and landed on his desk running back into the cage finishing his pellets.

"Stupid, rabbit! You dare run away from Zim's affection?" Zim threatened to Slippers. Slippers ignored him and ate his pellets. Zim suddenly sat down on his bed in defeat. Then he looked up at the rabbit angrily. "You don't like me, fine. I don't like you either. All you do is sit in that cage and eat. At least Gir and Minimoose move around and can talk to me. I'm only keeping you because of Mary and as soon as she loses interest in you, you are so out of here!"

Slippers turned his head slightly then stared at him. Zim realized that the rabbit was not smart enough to figure out what he was saying.

"This is quite pathetic, I, threatening a bunny just because I'm frustrated. Why did I have to fall in love with a human? This is all too complicated. Maybe I'm over thinking it. Maybe this can work but I can't scare the poor girl off with my alien customs or could it benefit me?"

The next morning, Dib and Gaz were getting off the bus together ready for another day of skool, at least Dib was. Gaz on the other hand, not so much. She was pretty tired from playing at the mall and the competition dragged on until four in the morning. Gaz arrived home around five and had about maybe two hours of sleep. She was pretty cranky that she almost broke Dib's hand when he tried to wake her. Gaz got up and ready to go but was not in the mood for Dib's ranting so she sweetly warned him to shut his mouth. He did, but wanted to know how the Call of Obligation Competition went for those guys. Dib walked into the skool alongside his sister as he carefully asked the question.

"Ummm…..so, Gaz?" Dib said.

"WHAT?" Gaz snapped.

"How was the competition? Did you win?" Dib stuttered.

"No, I lost by the fifth round!" Gaz angrily explained. "Xen made it to second place only to get defeated by Iggins. Iggins of all people! I really hate that guy!"

"I see. Was there a second prize?"

"Yeah, Xen won a fifty dollar gift card to Game Shop."

"Hey, that's pretty cool." Dib said cheerfully. "It's too bad any of you guys didn't win."

"Yeah, but it would have been awesome if he won the one thousand bucks. We could have bought tons of games. So, what was Zim's problem yesterday?"

"Oh, yeah," Dib sad chuckling. "Get this. Zim didn't know he liked Mary."

"What?"

"Correction. He didn't know what the feeling of love was until I explained to him yesterday. He came over and said that he felt sick in his chest only when he was around Mary and wanted to call Dad about it. I told him that he's fine that he's in love and he denies off the bat. But the more he thought about it, the more he believes to be true and suddenly he wants to confess to her. Of course I stopped him before he did something stupid."

"I shouldn't have stopped him." Gaz told his brother.

"Why is that?"

"If Zim wanted to confess to her, then let him. It's Zim's choice to make a fool out of himself. Who knows, Mary might actually like Zim. You shouldn't be giving out advice considering your past relationships. Four girlfriends and you couldn't even keep them for a month."

"Hey, he asked for my advice and I told him what I think he should do." Dib defended his actions.

"Yeah, let's hope he has enough sense to not take it too seriously." Gaz muttered as she walked away into her classroom. Dib frowned upon his sister and continued to walk into the hallways until he noticed Zim leaning against the wall gazing into the crowd. Dib walked up to him.

"Hello, Zim." Dib greeted him.

"Hey." Zim replied back still gazing the crowd of students.

"Whatcha' doing?" Dib asked him.

"Looking for Mary." Zim quickly spoke.

"Why? What are you up to?" Dib asked slightly tilting his head in curiosity.

"I thought about it last night and decided that I will confess!" Zim pronounced proudly.

"Oh really, now?" Dib questioned his decision in disbelief.

"Yes, I realized hiding my true feelings is purely idiotic. Who am I to deny my love and follow your human dating rituals, for I rise above and stick with my alien roots. I seen you humans hide your feeling on T.V. and it looks like torture. Why torture yourself I say so as soon as I see her, I'm confessing."

"Okay, go ahead." Dib said. Zim heard his answer and was surprised to see that Dib wasn't arguing with him. Zim looked at Dib perplexed by his attitude.

"You're not going to stop me?" Zim asked him.

"I don't see why not."

"But you were so against it yesterday."

"Yeah, I thought about it and well, it's not my place to tell you to what to do with your love life. If you want to confess, go ahead. You have my support even if it goes horribly wrong."

"Oh, okay," Zim said sounding a little nervous. "Good, good, okay, yes, I shall confess."

"Hey, there's Mary," Dib said finding her in the crowd next to her locker.

"Hey, Mary!" Dib called her name. Mary turned her head and saw Dib waving to her and Zim right next to him slightly smiling at her. Mary waved back, walked to the end of the hallway to greet them.

"Hi, guys." Mary said to them.

"Hi." Zim peeped waving his hand quickly and putting it down to his side.

"What's up?" Dib asked casually.

"Not much, it sure looks nice outside." Mary said.

"Yeah, I heard it's going to rain." Dib informed her remembering the weather report he watch this morning during breakfast.

"I hope not, that would be a bummer."

"It would, well; I gotta go to class, later." Dib said waving good bye to them as he left leaving Mary and Zim to talk among themselves. Zim stood stiff as a redwood as Mary began talking to him.

"How are you?"

"Fine, just fine."

"That's good, I was just wondering because yesterday you acted a little…off." Mary said finding the right word for Zim's behavior.

"Oh that," Zim remembered his embarrassing reaction. "You'll have to excuse me, I was acting like an idiot. I didn't mean anything by it so I'm sorry."

"I see, so you don't think I'm…pretty?" Mary said slightly disappointed.

"Of course I do, look at you. You're gorgeous! You're like the prettiest girl I know!" Zim awkwardly shouted. "I just didn't mean to freak you out by my outbursts. If you were, I am sorry."

"I wasn't freaked out, sure I was surprised but I wasn't freaked out. It was actually the nicest thing anyone said to me. Thank you." Mary said blushing. Zim placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Mary…" Zim whispered to her.

"Yes?" Mary said looking up to him.

"I….I….I…." Zim thought of the words he wanted to say but her looking up at him with those bright eyes made it difficult to speak. He travelled in his thoughts trying to find them but couldn't. He knew he had to retreat. "I can't wait until lunch, see you then."

Mary looked at him puzzled and then smiled. "Okay, Zim see you at lunch, bye."

Mary smirk then walked with the rest of the students as they entered their classroom for first period. Zim looked down at himself ashamed then walked to Mr. Holic's classroom. He went into the classroom and saw that Ms. Locker was still their substitute. Dib looked at the disappointed look in Zim's face.

"What happen? Don't tell me she dumped you?" Dib questioned Zim out loud. "It's okay Zim there are plenty of girls that-"

"Silence!" Zim shouted shutting Dib up. Then he sat down in his desk. "I didn't tell her."

"Chickened out, huh?" Dib smirked at him. Zim glared at him and pulled out his math book.

"I don't understand. Why didn't I tell her? I mean I had no problem confessing to Tak." Zim told Dib. Dib looked at Zim annoyed by his stupid remark.

"Ummm…First of all, you never confessed, you thought she liked you and accepted her 'feelings' and second you didn't care for her at all." Dib reminded him.

"Yeah, she totally hated my guts for ruining her life. I wonder if she's still mad at me."

"Well, she hasn't come back to kill you. I guess she got over it."

"But you have to admit, even though she was out to get me, she was hot." Zim admitted.

"Yes, she was." Dib agreed.

* * *

Fun Facts about Author: I have a pet spider that's been living in the upper portion of my shower for almost a year now, I named it Norma after Norman Bates from Psycho. It has it's own little web and knows to hide when I turn on the water.


	23. Zim's Realization

My sister came up with the beginning of this chapter, once more since she has cool ideas

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 23: Zim's Realization

It was another day of skool. Dib was sitting bored in his seat as his substitute teacher, Ms. Looker, try to teach Calculus to her temporary students. Dib yawned while Zim was trying to keep up with the substitute's constant corrections. Dib rested his head on his hand then felt his head swell up. He felt his head get bigger and bigger then BOOOM! His head exploded!

"Ahhh!" Dib screamed as he woke from his nap-mare. Dib look around the room and saw he was in math class. Zim turned his shoulder over to Dib's after the sudden scream.

"What happen?" Zim questioned him. "Were you dreaming?"

"Yes. Dreaming…" Dib said touching his face to find out if he still had a head.

"Well, you dosed off when Mrs. Looker handed out our chapter work, so I'm done. You on the other hand, have homework. Ha ha!" Zim mocked him.

"Whatever! I would think you want homework just so you can be with Mary." Dib said sweetly as he combined his hands together.

"You invoke my wrath!" Zim threatened as Dib laughed at him.

"Zim, you and your wrath needs to get a room…with Mary." Dib sneaked in. Zim got so fed up with Dib's childish behavior that he started whacking him with his math book. Ms. Looker turned her head to see Zim smacking Dib's head. Dib was still laughing.

"Boys!" Mrs. Looker shouted sternly. Zim heard the substitute and stopped smacking Dib. Ms. Looker placed her hands on her hips glaring at them. "I expect better behavior from juniors. Now please be quiet until the bell rings." Then the bell rang. Zim, not caring for what Ms. Looker told him, continued to whack Dib in the back of the head as they exit the classroom. Mrs. Looker shook her head as they left. Dib didn't care that Zim was whacking him. They were weak whacks and he can tell that Zim was getting tired. Dib thought he was tiring down until Zim mustered enough energy to give him a huge painful whack making Dib step forward a few steps.

"Owww, Zim, would you QUIT that!" Dib screamed.

"Never! You invoked my wrath!" Zim screamed.

"Look, I'm sorry now would you quit hitting me?"

"Fine…" Zim said lowering his book. Dib sighed, quickly took his math book out of Zim's hands and smacked over the head with it.

"Owwww…." Zim moaned rubbing his head.

"What have we learned?" Dib questioned him.

"Books hurt…" Zim murmured.

"Exactly," Dib agreed as he handed the book back to Zim. "Don't take it out on me just because you couldn't confess."

"I'm not taking that out on you," Zim protested. "I was hitting you for teasing me about Mary."

"Hey, somebody has to." Dib smirked.

"I hate you."

"Not enough to stop talking to me."

"Fair enough." Zim agreed. "You win this round but next time, mark my words, I will stop talking to you."

"What?" Dib asked him confused.

"I don't know." Zim said blankly. Dib shook his head then walked off to gym class while Zim followed him. After getting dress in their appropriate gym clothes, the class prepared another day of basketball. Everybody fought over to have Zim on their team but as soon as the game started, Zim wasn't into it. He had other things occupying his mind. His teammates wondered why Zim wasn't scoring any points but Zim didn't answer them. He kept on trying to throw the ball into the basket and missed. Dib, who was on the opposing team, saw that Zim was obviously troubled.

"What's wrong with you?" One of his teammates asked him angrily. "You could have made that!"

"Hey, don't yell at me, Miguel!" Zim spat out offended. "Don't get worked up over a stupid game, it's pointless!"

"Pointless, pointless!" Miguel screamed back not knowing that basketball is just a game. "You're pointless, whatever you do don't pass the ball to Zim, I guess he doesn't want us to have extra credit."

The rest of his teammates nodded agreeing to Miguel's orders. Zim sighed as he walked towards the middle of the gym getting ready to block the opposing team. Dib heard Miguel screaming at Zim and thought it was very uncool. It was Dib's turn to throw in the ball. Dib stood under their hoop as he and Miguel passes the ball a few times until Miguel accepted it. Miguel began dribbling the ball as he approached Dib's team basket. Miguel was about to throw the ball until Dib elbowed Miguel in the shoulder in his "attempt" to block. Miguel dropped the ball and rubbed his shoulder.

"Owww…What the Hell, man!" Miguel shouted at Dib.

"Oh, sorry, sometimes I get a little too carried away." Dib smirked. Mr. Millmere saw the technical foul and called Dib to sit on the bench. Zim saw what Dib did to Miguel and smiled knowing Dib stood up for him. Dib sat down at the bench and saw Zim grinned at him. Dib smiled back and gave him a thumb up while Zim continued to play. After class, those guys exit the lockers ready for third period. They walked through the halls discussing the incident.

"What was Miguel's problem?" Dib asked Zim.

"Apparently we weren't winning and decided to take it out on me." Zim told Dib.

"Man, Miguel is such a douche bag."

"Yeah, good thing you elbowed him." Zim said gratefully.

"He deserved it, okay see ya." Dib said leaving to his history class as Zim entered into English. His teacher handed them a vocabulary test that Zim forgot to study for. Zim stared at the piece of paper with foreign words on it. He pretty much guessed at his test and finished answering the multiple choice questions in five minutes. Zim walked up to Mrs. Fletcher's desk and turned in his paper.

"Wow that was quick." Mrs. Fletcher said impressed.

"Yeah, I'm a freakin' genius." Zim said sarcastically as he sat down. Zim laid his head on his desk fearing for lunch.

'I can't confess and I don't know how I should act around her.' Zim thought. 'What do I do?'

Zim thought of any solutions to his problem but none came to his mind. Then the bell rang for lunch. He got up, out the door, and head towards the cafeteria. He found his group's table and sat down. He was the first one there. Josh walked over and was shocked to see Zim beat him to his spot.

"Hey, Zim." Josh greeted him. "You're here early. What's up?"

Zim turned his head to see that Josh was speaking to him.

"Oh, nothing." Zim said sighing. Josh heard his exhausting sigh under his breath and sat down right across from him.

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Josh said taking his lunch out of his backpack.

"Believe me, it's nothing." Zim said grabbing his lunch out of his bag as well.

"Hey," Brian said right behind Zim startling him.

"Hey, Brian, how's it going?"

"Okay." Brian said sitting at his spot to the right of Zim.

"Dang, you scared me." Zim told Brian.

"Did I, sorry." Brian apologized as he brought out his book and lunch bag.

"You're a very quiet guy, you know that right?" Zim asked him about his knowledge of his own personality.

"Yeah, it's my best quality. You pretty much have to learn to be quiet when working on a farm or you'll scare your livestock."

"That makes sense." Zim said finally understanding Brian silent behavior. "Sorry, I'm not used to quiet people."

"Yeah, because you have such a big mouth." Josh teased Zim.

"I do not!" Zim shouted at Josh.

"You're being loud right now!" Josh pointed out.

"Only because I am arguing."

"You don't have to be loud while arguing."

"Only if you want to win!" Zim rebutted.

"What's going on?" Dib asked those two as they stare intensely at each other.

"Dib-monster," Zim screamed. "Do you think the only way to win an agreement is that you have to be louder than the opponent?"

"Well, being loud is a key element, but you have to have good opposing points that are agreeable to be a successful argument." Dib informed him.

"See, Josh, I rest my case." Zim said crossing his arms.

"What case is there to be rest, what were we arguing about?" Josh asked Zim confused.

"I don't know, but I win." Zim smirked pleased.

"Okay, sure whatever." Josh finally gave up and started eating his lunch. Zim smirk at the idea of him outsmarting Josh and began eating his lunch. Mary walked into the cafeteria and saw that half of her friends were already eating.

"Hey, guys." Mary said greeting them.

"Yo, Mary," Josh said. "You're late."

"Sorry, I was helping my teacher collect papers." Mary said as she sat right next to Zim. Zim saw her then choked a bit on his sandwich. He coughed then washed it down with soda.

"Zim, you okay?" Mary asked concerned by Zim's choking.

"Oh, ugh… Yeah, just swallowed more than I can crew, I mean chew, heh, heh…" Zim answered her nervously. Dib chuckled at Zim and then felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Gretchen's.

"Oh, hey Gretchen." Dib finally noticed his girlfriend sitting next to him.

"What's so funny?" Gretchen asked Dib out of curiosity.

"Zim choked on his sandwich. It made a funny sound." Dib smirked.

"Well, aren't you easily entertained?" Gretchen said rubbing her hand on his chest then she whispered in his ear that made him stand up.

"We are going to ummm…" Dib tried announcing to his friends.

"Study." Gretchen helped him.

"Yes, study. See you guys later." Dib said walking hand to hand with Gretchen out of the cafeteria.

"That was weird. Why study while you could use this time for eating?" Zim questioned as he ate the rest of his sandwich. Brian, Josh and even Mary were surprised as how ignorant he was but that soon ended when Tina jumped in the cafeteria in joy with her special announcement.

"Guess what, guys?" Tina greeted them happily. "You're all invited to my birthday party this Saturday."

"You're birthday, why is this the first time I heard of this?" Zim asked her.

"I was so excited for Valentine's Day that I forgot to pass out my invites. So yep, this Saturday is my birthday. So here is you're card, Zim." Tina said giving him her card. Zim looked around the table and saw no one else got a card.

"How come I'm the only one that got an invite?" Zim said holding up the decorated white card with confetti drawings saying 'you're invited.'

"Because you, Dib, and Gretchen are the only people that don't know where I live." Tina explained to him.

"Oh…"

"Speaking of Gretchen and Dib, where are those two?"

"They're out studying." Zim informed her.

"At lunch?" Tina questioned him.

"That's what I said, but I'll give him your card." Zim offered. Tina nodded and gave him Dib's copy.

"So when's the party?" Mary asked her.

"It's going to start around noon." Tina answered her. Zim looked at his invite and saw the party was going to start around 12:30pm. Zim looked up from the invitation smiled awkwardly at Tina.

"What's with the creepy look?" Tina asked.

"I have to work around that time. I won't be there until three." Zim told her.

"That's fine, I don't want you to skip work. Or maybe you should?" Tina suggested.

"No." Zim peeped.

"Alright I'll see you whenever, but you are coming."

"Of course, I have no other excuses."

"Great! How about you guys?" Tina asked the rest of her friends.

"I'll be there." Brian said.

"So will I." Mary agreed.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Josh said sweetly. "Even if my own grandmother died on your birthday, I would still go."

"Oh, Josh. You know what to say to cheer me up." Tina said hugging him happily. Then she sat down on his lap and kissed him. Zim scratched his head curiously at their affection but couldn't figure it out and went back to eating. After those two were done smooching, Tina remembers what she was going to ask Brian.

"Hey, Brian how did it go with your secret admirer yesterday?"

"Oh, well…" Brian murmured.

"Was it Penny?"

"Yes, it was her." Brian answered.

"Spill it man, what happened?" Tina asked as the rest of his friends listen closely to his answer.

"I met her at my locker. I didn't think she was waiting for me but she mention the note and I realized she sent it. I asked her if she would like to go out, she said yes and we went out. Now, I have a girlfriend." Brian caught up his crew.

"So you guys went out on a date?" Tina continued questioning.

"Yes," Brian answered her annoyed.

"How come she's not eating with you?"

"She wants to eat with her friends." Brian said.

"When do we get to meet her?" Tina asked.

"Soon enough." Brian peeped.

"Well, I can't wait to meet her." Tina told Brian and he nodded.

"Me too, then I can tell her embarrassing stuff about you."

"There's nothing embarrassing happened to me, it always happens to you." Brian reminded Josh.

"Oh, right."

"Well, I'm glad that you two are together." Mary told Brian smiling.

"Thank you Mary. That means a lot." Brian told her. Zim stared at Brian.

'Yesterday he had no girlfriend and the next day he does, the girl he likes to be his girlfriend,' Zim thought. 'Hmmm… Maybe he should be the one to talk to about confessing. After all, he had to say he loved her to get Penny to be his girlfriend, right?'

"Hey, Zim." Mary peeped to him.

"Y-yes?" Zim stuttered breaking his thought bubble.

"I was wondering if you had any homework you need help with in Calculus."

"No, I don't. I did it in class." Zim explained. "Since Mr. Holic's out, we have been doing chapter work."

"Oh, do you have any questions?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, there are a few things I don't get."

"How about I come over and we can figure them out."

"Sure, okay." Zim agreed awkwardly.

"Great, so how is Slipper's doing for food, do you think I need to buy more?"

"No, I fed him yesterday; he still has plenty of food left."

"Oh, good, then I'll be over soon."

"Slippers?" Josh asked over hearing their conversation.

"It's a pet rabbit I bought that Zim is letting me keep over at his house." Mary explained.

"You guys have a bunny rabbit!" Tina shrieked in delight bending towards the two. "How cute, what does it look like?"

"It's a male rabbit that's has white fur with black and grey spots all over him." Mary described Slippers to Tina.

"Wow, very unusual!" Tina said. "I wish I could see him."

"You can if you like." Zim offered to Tina.

"Cool, I'll come over sometime." Tina peeped then sat back down next to Josh.

"So you guys are taking care of a little bunny together." Josh asked them.

"That's right." Mary said.

"Interesting, heheh," Josh smirked at them.

"What?" Zim snapped at him.

"Oh, nothing I find it very adorable, you two taking care of Slippers. You guys sound like you're taking care of a baby." Josh teased them.

"It's not a baby, it's a rabbit!" Zim denied. "A very old one to be exact, what makes you think I'm taking care of a baby?"

"Just the way you two talk like you're a couple." Josh teased some more. Mary and Zim looked at each other, blushed and looked away.

"We're not a couple…" Mary murmured.

"Right…" Josh said nodding. Both Tina and Brian laughed by the outcome of Josh's observations while Mary and Zim blushed some more. The bell rang and they dispersed to their classes. The rest of Zim's classes went by quickly. History and science was boring and math was equally as well. All the rest of his effort of his brain went to figuring out how to ask Brian how he confessed to Penny. He remembered where Brian locker was and decided to meet him there to ask. Let's just hope he doesn't get the wrong impression.

When the final bell rang, Zim went around the hallways searching for Brian but his search ended quickly as Brian left out of the classroom across the hall from his. Zim caught up to Brian and tapped him on the shoulder. Brian looked over to see in his surprise that Zim was there.

"Hey what's up?" Brian asked turning around to greet Zim.

"Oh, I was wondering…" Zim said fidgeting. "Was it hard?"

"What's hard, Zim?" Brian asked giving him a confused look.

"You know," Zim continued. "Telling Penny that you liked her."

"Not really, I already knew she liked me so it was easy." Brian told him.

"I guess that's true." Zim said remembering the love letter.

"Why are you asking me this?" Brian wondered.

"No reason!" Zim quickly answered turning away. Brian thought of Zim's questions thoroughly, and then smiled when he understood why Zim was asking him.

"Actually, it was kind of hard."

"It was?" Zim questioned him.

"Yes, I was so nervous when I met with Penny but I knew in order for me to become happy, I would have to overcome my insecurities and tell her how I feel and I'm glad I did. Now I have the girl of my dreams." Brian told him.

"Good for you." Zim spoke sarcastically.

"Yep, it's pretty sweet." Brian elbowed Zim's arm. "I'm sure you'll get her."

"Get who? I don't know what you are talking about." Zim continued to deny.

"Alright, Zim, do you have any more questions?" Brian asked him.

"No, no that was all on my mind."

"Okay, then bye." Brian left Zim to think about what he advised him. Zim walked to his locker grabbing the book he needed tonight, math. He sighed as he grabbed his math book and placed it in his bag. Then he continued to walk through the hallways. There he met up with Dib.

"So how was your studying?" Zim asked Dib.

"Studying?" Dib questioned him.

"With Gretchen during lunch." Zim reminded him.

"Oh, yes, that, we studied a lot."

"Well, I hope you pass the test." Zim said cheerfully oblivious to what Dib was really doing.

"So do I." Dib smirked.

"Oh, yeah, after you guys left, Tina came by and wanted to give this card. It's her birthday this Saturday." Zim said handing him Dib's invitation.

"Are you able to go?" Dib asked him.

"Yeah, but I'll be late." Zim told him as they walked towards the entrance of the skool.

"You are going home?" Dib asked him while opening the door.

"No, I'm going to work, and then Mary's coming over to help me understand the latest chapter a little better." Zim said as he exits the building with Dib. "I really need to…" Zim trailed off forgetting what he was talking about for he was distracted by the sudden down pour of his greatest enemy next to meat, rain. It was coming down heavy in long striking drops hitting the concrete steps and grass of the skool's yard. Zim stared at it in fear that he turned stagnant for a few seconds until Dib nudged his shoulder.

"Wake up, man." Dib said grabbing his shoulder. "It's just rain."

"Right, right." Zim finally spoke taking his backpack off, unzipping it. "Nothing to worry about since I remembered to pack my…Hey, where's my umbrella!"

"I didn't take it." Dib said not knowing where Zim put his umbrella.

"It has to be here somewhere." Zim said searching vigorously through his backpack.

"Maybe you forgot it at home."

"That's just great, now I'm going to fry!" Zim snapped then he glanced at Dib who was wearing his long black cloak. The perfect protection from rain.

"Dib," Zim said his name politely.

"Yea,"

"Can I borrow your jacket?"

"What, no,"

"Why not, I need more than you."

"No, it looks weird." Dib said pointing to their peers giggling at them as they passed by leaving the skool premises.

"I don't care I need that jacket!" Zim said grabbing the back of his cloak trying to yank it off Dib.

"Hey, get off of me!" Dib screamed circling around trying to get Zim off him but Zim kept on pulling.

"Gimme the jacket!" Zim demanded while pulling.

"No!" Dib screamed suddenly jerking away from Zim making him lose grip. Zim fell towards the door. Zim looked up to see Dib standing in the rain.

"You can't have it. Gir will fill the pockets with yogurt." Dib stated his reason.

"No he won't." Zim said as he got up standing just to the edge of the covered area.

"He did it three times. Once with strawberry, the other with cherry and the last time with strawberry banana."

"He's trying to make snacking convenient for you."

"It's not so convenient if you're the one having to clean up that moldy crap,"

"Please, just this time." Zim begged but Dib shook his head.

"Then what am I suppose to use?" Zim questioned him.

"Your backpack?"

"What, you expect me to use that thing as a shield, you got to be kidding me." Zim shouted.

"Just do it or you're going to be late for work, see ya!" Dib waved him good bye as he walked off to the bus stop.

"Stupid, Dib! Leaving Zim to suffer from the rain, some friend you are!" Zim screamed at him but Dib didn't hear or bother to turn around to comment. Zim turned around to see his backpack next to the skool's door. Zim grabbed his backpack and put it over his head.

"This is humiliating." Zim muttered. He stared into the rain, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and took a step into the rain. Instead of feeling a burning sensation to his arms and legs, he felt dry. Maybe the backpack worked he thought as he opened his eyes. He looked up and saw that there was a black and white polka dotted umbrella over his head. He turned around and saw it was Mary who was holding it reaching out on her tippy toes.

"There, that's better." Mary said smiling at him. Zim saw that she getting soaked while holding the umbrella over him.

"Thank you." Zim said as he placed the bag on his shoulder.

"Forgot your umbrella?" Mary asked him.

"Uh-huh." Zim said while nodding.

"Here." Mary said holding out the handle for Zim to take. "You can borrow mine. I wouldn't want you to get burned on your way to work."

"What about you?" Zim asked her.

"Just take it. I'll be fine." Mary assured him even though she was drenched. Zim nodded and took the umbrella from her hand.

"Okay, thank you again. I'll give this back to you." Zim said.

"I know you will. I'll be over later, remember?" Mary reminded him.

"Oh, right."

"That's my bus," Mary said hearing it pull up. "I gotta go, see ya."

"'Bye." Zim said as Mary ran towards her bus. She made it through the rain and caught her bus on time. Zim watched as her bus left and stood there astonished at her sweet gesture. Then he remembered he had to catch his bus, and walked to his bus stop. His bus pulled up to the curb and he and the rest of his peers boarded the bus. Zim entered the bus, retract the umbrella and placed it in his backpack. Then he got out his bus card to show the driver. Zim took his seat next to the window and watched the rain come down as the bus drove off. He cringed at the thought of being hit with that water and then became happy that Mary helped him. Then he felt guilty that she got soaked in order to protect him.

"I'll have to make it up to her somehow…" Zim muttered under his breath. The bus turned the corner to his stop and he pulled the cord to get off. He opened Mary's umbrella and exit the bus. Zim walked to his work, retract the umbrella and went inside. He went to the back of Mart-Wall into the employee's lounge where he found his locker to place his backpack in. He opened the locker, grabbed his uniform, changed his shirt, then put his backpack in the locker and closed it. He clocked on and went to his supervisor, Mr. Happy, to start his shift. Mr. Happy told him he was at register in the electronics today.

"Sure, that's pretty easy." Zim said pleased to Mr. Happy.

"It is for now, but you have to stock all the videos with one of our new employees, Sarah." Mr. Happy said pointing to the older woman who looked like she was in her early 20s. She had tan skin and wore her blonde hair in a pony tail.

"Hi." Sarah peeped waving to Zim.

"Okay, come along Sarah." Zim said as he got a cart full of videos and game to their station. Sarah grabbed another cart full of the same junk and went with Zim.

"I'm Sarah." She introduced herself.

"My name is Zim."

"Zim, that's an interesting name. Is that foreign?"

"Yes." Zim said opening the door entering the store floor of the electronic area.

"Cool! How long have you been working here?" Sarah asked.

"About seven months."

"Know yourself around the store?"

"Yeah,"

"I'm still having problems, sometimes I get lost in the store. This place is huge!"

"It is, but you'll know your way around once you worked here long enough." Zim said getting to the electronics. Zim roamed his cart to the empty section of the shelves. "Okay your job is to stack the shelves according to the yellow tag that matches the merchandise on the shelf. I'll man the register."

"Okay!" Sarah said as she started arranging the video cases to their appropriate spots. Zim served customers getting video games out of the glass casings and ringing them up while Sarah stacked. About three hours went by and it was almost time for him to go.

"Yes, thirty minutes and I'm done for the day." Zim muttered. He was about to enjoy the rest of his shift easily until he noticed from the distance a black scythe big-head kid from across the aisle.

"Damn, it's Dib!" Zim yelled. Dib heard Zim's scream and turned around and saw Zim in electronics. Zim ducked behind the register but it was already too late. Dib came towards him.

"Looks like you made it through the rain not injured I see, so the backpack worked?" Dib asked resting his elbow on Zim's counter. Zim jolted up to face Dib.

"No it didn't. Mary let me borrow her umbrella."

"Oh, so she's interested in you." Dib said slyly.

"No, she was being nice." Zim denied. "You really think so?"

"Yeah, you might have a chance."

"Yes!" Zim shrieked pleased fist pumping with his left arm. "What brings you here, Dib-rat?"

"To find a present for Tina and why did you call me Dib-rat, do I look like a rat to you?"

"You act like one sometimes." Zim admitted smiling.

"What?"

"With your sneaking around." Zim continued.

"I stopped spying years ago."

"A rat stills a rat."

"Whatever, do you know what to get Tina for her birthday because I have no idea." Dib asked Zim.

"Yep. An ipoop card." Zim said picking up a card from the rack.

"How original." Dib sarcastically remarked.

"It's better than your gift which is nothing!" Zim pointed out.

"Can you help me figure out what to get Tina?"

"You didn't help me, why should I help you?" Zim questioned him.

"Because it's your store's policy." Dib pointed to Mart-Wall's many posters saying 'Customer satisfaction guaranteed!' Zim sighed knowing Dib got him and had to help.

"Okay, fine, just one moment." Zim said walking away from the register. He went up to Sarah. "I have to go help this customer for a bit, I'll be back in a minute."

"What about the other customers that want to buy stuff here."

"They can take it to another register."

"Oh, okay." Sarah said.

"Alright, I'll be right back." Zim said then Dib followed him. "Let's make this quick, do you have any ideas what Tina might like."

"Nope, not a clue." Dib said.

"Ughhhh…" Zim moaned then continued to walk into the jewelry section.

"Here, do you think she might like a necklace? Girls like jewelry."

"They do, but I think Josh might have a problem with it if I gave his girlfriend jewelry."

"Hmm…good point." Zim said. "Then maybe a tee shirt?"

"I don't know her size and style."

"Then how about a movie?" Zim suggested.

"Now, that's not a bad idea." Dib said.

"Okay back to the electronics." Zim said marching to his part of the store with Dib. Zim saw his register line was long.

"Sarah, why are these people waiting in line?"

"I told them you would be back in a minute." Sarah told him.

"Hey, I have been waiting in this line for one whole minute! Could I please have some service here?"

"Okay, keep your pants on!" Zim shouted to the guy.

"I won't if I don't get to pay for my stuff. Who's with me!" The guy shouted to his fellow men waiting in line. They nodded and got ready to unzip their flies.

"No, no don't unzip your pants; I'll ring you up right now." Zim warned them and got to his counter. He rang up the customer while Dib finds a descent movie. After he served all those people, it was the end of his shift so he told Sarah. They grabbed their carts and went to the employee lounge to clock out. Zim grabbed his backpack and left. When he got out of the lounge, he saw Dib was waiting for him.

"Did you pick out a movie?"

"Yeah, one of the new releases, 'When the World goes Boom II'." Dib said show him the cover of a massive volcano erupting.

"I heard it was better than the original." Zim commented.

"It better be I paid twenty dollars for it."

"It should be good." Zim presumed walking with Dib getting ready to leave to the front entrance.

"Wait, I have to pay for this."

"I thought you paid already, okay to the registers." Zim shouted as they walked towards the many isles of empty registers. They found one open and waited in line. While they were waiting in line, Zim glanced over at The Sandwich Thing where Steve works. Zim haven't talked to him since that incident with his brother. He saw Steve exit the shop, he turned away hoping he wouldn't notice him. He glanced back at him and saw Steve coming right towards him. He didn't look too happy.

"Uh-Oh." Zim peeped.

"What?" Dib asked. Then saw the tall boy recognized coming towards them. "That's Steve, Righ?"

"Yes, and that's Todd's younger brother, the man that tried to sell me that beer."

"Oh, crap…We got to get out of here before we get into another fight." Dib said alarmed.

"Right ahead of you," Zim said trying to sneak around the registers.

"Hey, Zim, there's something I need to say to you!" Steve called him out.

"Ohhh no…" Zim said then turned back. "Fine, say it, if you are after a fight to avenge your brother, so shall we fight!"

Steve came closer as Zim readied his fists, but instead of Steve raising his fists, Steve opened his arms and gave Zim a big hug.

"What trickery is this?" Zim asked the boy while Dib scratched his head in misunderstanding.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Steve said.

"For what? Aren't you mad I beat up your brother?"

"On the contrary no,"

"Huh?" Zim said after Steve let him go.

"Ya see, after Todd came home, he told me that you guys beat up his whole crew and it totally freaked him out so bad that he decided to get a job. He's going around applying at any place that is hiring." Steve explained. "So thank you, for scary my brother to get his life together."

"Ummm…You're welcome." Zim replied awkwardly.

"You deserve it." Steve patted his shoulder happily. "If there was a card thanking you for beating up my brother, I would totally buy it for you."

"Actually, there is." Zim said. Both Steve and Dib looked surprised at him.

"There is?" Steve asked curiously.

"Yeah, follow me." Zim said. He led him to the card section in the Mart-Wall to show them the card. He went around the shelves where he stocked the cards and found them.

"Here it is." Zim said pulling out one of the cards. "You scold him, you teased him, and hell, you even belittled him, but nothing seemed to work, he won't bother listening to reason." Zim read out loud then flipped the card open. "Instead you use brute force to change his mind, thanks having the guts to act upon what we were only thinking."

"That's hilarious," Dib said laughing.

"Yep, Hall-Make, don't know what those guys are going to think of next." Zim smirked.

"I'm going to by this for you, man as a sorry that my brother's an idiot." Steve said.

"Hey, it's not your fault but I will over look it if you buy me that card so then I can show the Principle that I have a good reason to beat people up."

"Sweet, that's cool with me." Steve said taking the card out of Zim's hand.

"What about me?" Dib said. "I got involved in that fight, what do I get?"

"You get a certain toy as soon as you pay for the damages." Zim reminded Dib.

"Ohhh, never mind then." Dib said taking back his statement.

"Let's get out of here; I'm sick of this place." Zim stated.

"Me too, you know how many people I served today?" Steve said.

"How many?" Zim asked him.

"Too many." Steve said.

"Well, then that's how you know you're doing your job!" Zim joked with Steve.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, yea, man, you are way too funny." Steve chuckled. Dib smiled and rolled his eyes as they got to the register. Dib was first in line. He reached in his cloak's pocket and felt a familiar cold substance. He slowly retrieved his hand to find a purplish white cream on his palm and fingers. It smelled of blueberries.

"Ahhhh!" Dib screamed.

"What's wrong, Dib!"

"Zim, Gir did it again, he snuck blueberry yogurt in my pocket!" Dib said showing the guys his hand. Zim and Steve both saw this and laughed their asses off. "When did he do this, I didn't even meet him!"

"Ahh, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! He got you good!" Zim chuckled.

"Did you set him up for this?" Dib questioned him angrily.

"No, but I wish I did!" Zim confessed.

"Awww…Nasty," Dib said reaching his hand in his yogurty infested pocket to get his wallet. "Aw, it's in my wallet too." Hearing this made Steve and Zim laugh even more. Dib flipped his wallet open, paid the cashier and marched out of the store. Zim and Steve kept on laughing until they noticed Dib was gone.

"Dude, who did that to him," Steve managed to ask Zim after he could breathe.

"It's a really funny friend of mine."

"Cool, it must never get old with him."

"No it doesn't, he's crazy." Zim agreed describing Gir.

"Yeah,"

"Would you please pay for your item and go?" The cashier asked Steve. "We have people waiting in line."

"Oh, sorry, ma'am." Steve said and paid for the card. Steve signed the card and gave it to Zim. They both walked out of the store and saw it was still raining.

"Dang, it's still pouring, winter showers suck, you agree?" Steve asked Zim.

"Oh, yeah, I hate them with a passion!" Zim screamed and grabbed Mary's umbrella out of his backpack and opened it revealing the polka dotted pattern. Steve smirked at him.

"What?" Zim asked him.

"That's a girly umbrella," Steve pointed out.

"Shut up, what if it is?" Zim grinned evilly.

"Oh, nothing." Steve said wiping his smile off his face threatened by Zim's glare.

"Good, thanks for the card, see ya whenever." Zim said walking off to his bus stop. Zim marched to edge of the side walk to catch his bus across the street. When he was waiting for the cross walk to say go, he spotted a reddish haired girl sitting at the mall's bus station. It was Mary. As soon as the cross walk flashed the bright man, Zim ran across the street hoping to catch her before the bus did. He made it to the other side of the street and ran to the station. A few drops of water hit his face, neck and legs while he ran but it didn't bother him for he believed it was worth it. Zim enter under the covered area bent down placing his hands on his knees to pant. Mary didn't recognize him until she seen her polka dotted umbrella. Mary got from the bench and stood in front of him

"Hi, Zim this is a surprise, what are you doing out here?" Mary asked him.

"I should ask you the same thing." Zim responded after panting. Zim caught his breath and stood up to see his smiling angel.

"I went to the mall to pick out a gift for Tina." Mary said showing him the plastic pink bag.

"Let me see." Zim said placing one finger in the bag pulling forward to see what she got for Tina.

"No, I want to surprise everyone at the party." Mary said pulling the bag away.

"Okay, so you're not soaked at all." Zim said looking at her new outfit of a black hooded jacket with blue jeans.

"I used to be but not anymore, I changed before I went to the mall." Mary informed him.

"I see, here's your umbrella back." Zim said handing it to her.

"Thank you." Mary said taking it and handing it back to him. "But maybe you should hold on to it until you get home."

"Good thinking." Zim stated then took the umbrella.

"So how was work?"

"Boring, but after it, it was so random." Zim said. He explained to her what happened earlier with him and Steve. Then he showed her the card. Mary read the card and covered her mouth while laughing.

"I didn't know Hall-Make made any cards like these." Mary said giving back the card.

"Me neither until I stocked it." Zim said. "And then when Dib went up to the register, he reached into his pocket and it was full of yogurt."

"What?" Mary smiled. "Why was it full of yogurt?"

"Because Gir did it so Dib could snack on it." Zim laughed. "He did it three times before."

"Gir is such a funny robot." Mary chuckled.

"Indeed, hey there's our bus." Zim shouted watching the bus pull up.

"Let's board, shall we?" Mary suggested. The bus stopped the let the passengers off and board new ones. Mary and Zim found a seat. The bus sat idle for awhile until it took off. Mary and Zim stayed quiet the rest of the trip until they reached their destination. Zim pulled the cord and the bus stopped at his neighborhood. They boarded off; Zim pulled the umbrella quickly over his head before the rain drops hit him. Mary was shocked to see how quickly he was able to open her umbrella. They walked upon the side walk side by side, Zim under the umbrella while Mary had her hood up. Zim noticed this and stopped. Mary realizing that Zim wasn't walking with her turned around, to see Zim standing still. She came up to him.

"Zim, what's wrong?" Mary asked him. Then Zim raised the umbrella from his head over to Mary's.

"You're too kind to deserve to be rained upon." Zim told her. She blushed at his gesture then saw that he looked like he was burning.

"Zim, there's steam coming out of you!" Mary pointed screaming.

"Yeah that just means I'm ready." Zim smirked to her.

"Zim, I really appreciate this but for your own well being, please get under the umbrella." Mary asked him concerned.

"Okay..." Zim said raising the umbrella over his head once more. "Then perhaps we could…share it?"

"That could work." Mary said then joined Zim under her umbrella. They walked together until they reached his house where they saw Gir and Minimoose play in the mud puddle of his yard. Zim flinched at the sight and screamed at them.

"Gir! Minimoose! Get in the house, right now!"

Gir and Minimoose turned their heads to see their angry Master and Mary. Gir and Minimoose quickly entered the house as Zim and Mary followed them and closed the door.

"I can't believe you, guys, then again what do I expect but look at you all covered in mud!" Zim shrieked. Gir and Minimoose looked at themselves and saw they were covered head to toe.

"But, master it was fun!" Gir whined.

"I know it must have been fun, the way you're engulfed in mud, take your suit off Gir, Minimoose come with me, I'll help you clean up."

"Nya."Minimoose peeped. Minimoose and Zim left into the kitchen leaving Gir to unzip his suit. Mary saw Gir was having trouble unzipping his outfit. She bent her knees on the floor and reached through the mud to obtain the zipper.

"Here you go." Mary said unzipping his suit for him. Gir moved around his doggie disguise until he was able to get out of it to reveal his metal self. Gir smiled at Mary and stood on her lap.

"Thank you, Mary!" Gir peeped to her, grabbed her head and licked her cheek.

"Owwww!" Mary shrieked from the lick holding her cheek. Gir backed away. Zim who was in the kitchen jumped from the scream and ran out of the living room to see what happen. There he found Mary holding her cheek and Gir cowering away.

"What happen?" Zim asked them.

"Gir licked my cheek and it hurt." Mary said then she looked down at her hand and saw a smeared streak of blood. Zim saw the cut.

"Gir!" Zim screamed angrily. "What's wrong with you, you know you're not supposed to lick people!"

"Sorry…" Gir said quietly.

"Zim he didn't mean anything by it." Mary said defending him. Zim didn't say anything to Gir.

"Come with me, I have some rubbing alcohol in the bathroom." Zim said. Mary nodded and followed Zim into the bathroom. Zim opened up his medicine cabinet to retrieve his first aid kit. Zim opened the kit, grabbed a cotton ball, placed some rubbing alcohol on it and wiped it on Mary's wound.

"Owww…That sting." Mary said feeling her wound bubbling up.

"That means it's working." Zim told her.

"Yes, I know what it means…" Mary said then the cut swelled up with blood again and Zim handed her some toilet paper.

"Thank you." Mary said grabbing the thin paper and holding it against her cut.

"It should be fine. The cut doesn't look that deep." Zim said.

"I guess we wait until it stops bleeding before we stick the band aid on." Mary said awkwardly. Mary sat herself on the edge of the bathtub while Zim leaned against the bathroom sink. They stood quiet for a couple of minutes before Zim asked a question which been bugging him for a long time.

"I know that I'm throwing this out there but have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"No, I haven't." Mary finally said. "I liked a few guys but they never were interested in me."

"Ha," Zim laughed sarcastically. "They must have been blind."

"What about you? Have ever had a girlfriend?" Mary asked him.

"Me, no, most of the girls thought I looked gross." Zim responded.

"They sound mean." Mary said.

"Yeah but whatcha' gonna do. You can't change the people around you. That's why I don't bother with them most of the time."

"Just for the record, I don't think you're gross." Mary said chuckling.

"Good, that makes two of us." Zim smirked then moved her hand to see the cut. "Looks like it stopped." Zim grabbed a band aid from the kit, unwrap it and placed it on her cheek. Mary smiled and Zim smiled back at her. Mary looked over his shoulder to see Gir peeking over the entry way crying.

"Oh Gir, come here." Mary gently spoke. Zim turned around to see Gir enter the bathroom.

"I'm so sorry," Gir tears up. "I didn't mean to hurt you…"

"I know, sweetie, look, it's okay. I'm fine." Mary assured Gir showing him her face. Gir went up to Mary and hugged her knees. Zim was still a little mad at him while Mary wasn't mad at all. She picked up Gir and hugged the little guy. Gir buried his head in her chest as he cried. Zim sighed, bent down on one knee and petted the robot's head.

"It's okay Gir, she's fine, just please stop crying." Zim asked him softly.

"Really?" Gir asked.

"Yes," Zim said. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"What about the boo-boo?" Gir asked.

"The boo-boo?" Zim questioned him.

"Master, would you kiss it to make it feel better?"

"What?" Zim said surprised. They looked at each other and blushed then Mary looked down at Gir.

"It's okay you're master doesn't have to do that…" Mary said then she looked up to see Zim glazing at her. She was stunned at his glaze that she looked into his eyes as well. He bent his head towards her slowly then Gir began to giggle loudly. This distracted Zim and he saw his little robot chuckling at him. Zim moved away from her and stood up.

"Maybe you should kiss her, Gir, you did cause the injury in the first place. It is your duty to make her feel better." Zim suggested smiling at him hiding away his feelings.

"Yeah, how about you do that instead." Mary agreed. Gir nodded then pecked her cheek and ran off.

"Will you excuse me," Zim said to her chasing Gir downstairs. Zim followed Gir outside. Luckily it stopped raining.

"What's a matter with you? Kiss her boo-boo? Are you insane?" Zim asked him embarrassed.

"Yes, but Master, don't you like her?"

"I do."

"Then what's wrong, kiss her, I want you to be happy." Gir told him.

"I don't need you or anyone meddling into my affairs, if I want to be happy, I and her will choose it to be. Not you." Zim told Gir proudly. Then it hit him like a wooden board. All this time he was listening to everybody else's advice that he over looked his own. He looked into the sky as the grey clouds departed and pronounced.

"When the time comes, I'll tell her, I'll tell her everything."

He walked into his house.

* * *

Giggling robots ruin the mood...-_- Fun Facts about the Author: I don't like eating oranges but I love orange juice. I don't like the fruit because it is so tedious and messy and the texture of the fruit on my tongue is very unpleasant. I guess the only reason I like orange juice because it is full of sugar, and boy do I love sugar!


	24. Tina's BDay Bash!

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 24: Tina's B-day Bash!

Zim returned to the kitchen to find Minimoose showering in the sink. Glad that Minimoose cleaned himself, he went upstairs to check on Mary but to his surprise, she was in the living room. She was holding Gir's muddy doggie suit in her hands.

"What should we do with this?" Mary questioned Zim whether the suit was even washable. The suit was caked with mud, dirt, little twigs and pine needles that it looked like it could be part of the Earth. Zim sighed and grabbed the suit.

"Toss it. Gir has extras. Gir get in here!" Zim called his name. Gir's little silver antenna peeked up as he heard his name. Gir entered the house.

"Yes?" Gir asked curiously.

"Get your disguise on if you want to play outside," Zim told him.

"But I like being naked." Gir whined to him. Zim placed his hands on his hips.

"I know, but you don't want to draw any attention to your robotic form. Put it on."

Gir looked up at his master as Zim stared at him. They stood there without moving a muscle in a game of wits for about two minutes. Mary looked at each of them questioning whether she should say anything to break their silence. Gir finally ran off into the kitchen screaming.

"I don't care! I don't care!"

Zim became startled by his sudden outburst and ran after him.

"Get back in here!" Zim demanded chasing the little robot outside.

"I don't care! I don't care!" Gir kept on chanting until Zim caught him. He saw one of his neighbors open their back window to see what was the commotion. Zim hid Gir behind his back and screamed.

"I don't care that…The Cougars are going to nationals! Go Squids! They deserved to go!" Zim screamed hoping his neighbor was a football fan and would over look his robot's earlier screaming. He did. His neighbor nodded at him and closed his window. Zim sighed and looked at Gir who was on his shoulder giggling. Zim walked into his house and closed the door behind him. Gir jumped off Zim, landed on the kitchen floor and ran into the living room. Zim followed him and saw that Gir was on the couch digging through the cushions.

"What is he doing now?" Zim shouted annoyed.

"I don't know." Mary answered him. "Maybe he's looking for something."

They watched as Gir began to pull something lime green out of the couch. It was another of his dog suit. Gir threw the suit on the floor, jumped on it and quickly got dressed.

"You keep the extra suits inside couch! Why?" Zim screamed at him.

"To keep Minimoose from wearing my suit on his antlers." Gir answered him. Minimoose hovered into the living room to find an extra pair of Gir's suit sticking out between the couch cushions. Minimoose squeaked in joy and mentally pulled the suit out from the couch and levitated it on to his antlers; the head of the suit on his left antler and the body on his right. It looked like another version of Gir trying to eat Minimoose.

"That's looks freaky!" Zim gasped.

"Nooooo! Give it back! I'm Gir! Not you! Meee!" Gir screamed as he chased Minimoose around the living room trying to get his suit back. Zim and Mary stared at the two in wonder.

"So…Minimoose wants to be Gir?" Mary asked Zim. Zim shook his head then shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. I don't know what these two are up to half the time. Let's just leave them be." Zim told her. Mary nodded and went upstairs with Zim to look over his homework. After about an hour of studying, Mary left. Zim called it a day lying in bed contemplating that he almost kissed her. Even though it was a complete failure, he was glad that finally realized that he was ready to tell everything. About his past, his origins and his mistakes that kept him tied down for so long. He slumbered in peace at this factor and that morning, he took the Striking Gem out of his dresser drawer and placed it in his pocket for when he tells her, he would have it.

Mr. Holic was still sick so Dib and Zim had Mrs. Looker as their teacher which was good because she was so nice. Whenever Zim was stuck on a problem, she wouldn't call him stupid, she would help him as she figured out the problem with him. The rest of the classes became a lot easier to handle. He went to each class and participated. When he got his vocabulary test back from English it was a C which made him a happy camper for guessing part of the test right but nothing made him happier than the time he spent with Mary. Every lunch, he would try to sit right next to her. As the rest of their friends were talking about strange things like who would win a fight and dares they done in the past, Mary and Zim would have their own conversations like what they like when they were kids. Zim would say he liked getting into trouble and being oblivious to everything around him. Mary laughed at him and say she was like that too except for the trouble part. She even admitted Jessica, the mean girl who started the whole cow nickname, used to be her friend in middle skool. Zim gasped at this new information and asked what happened. She shook her head and said she didn't know. One day she had a new set of friends and started making fun of her. She didn't know why their friendship turned into hatred and didn't know what she did wrong but she told Zim that it wasn't important anymore. Zim agreed and told her Jessica was an idiot. Mary thought so too. Zim and Mary hung out a lot after skool; Zim had the day off Friday and decided to spend it after skool with Mary helping her at the orphanage. Sister Ana was pleased to see him again and suggested that he should tell the children more stories about the Adventures of Zam and Gar. Zim agreed and after Mary and Zim helped Sister Ana around the orphanage, Zim told the kids a story about on how Zam and Gar was abducted by stupid aliens who thought Zam was human. The children listen carefully as Zim told them the tale as Mary listened as well. Zim directly placed his attention on Mary as he told the story to see her reaction. At times he purposely slipped up and used his name instead of Zam's to see if she noticed but he saw that she didn't seem to mind in fact he saw that she was enjoying his stories as she laughed with the children as Zam and Gar escaped the whale shaped spaceship plopping two stories from the sky. Zim smiled knowing that she wasn't too freaked out by his story telling of true events. Of course he didn't tell her it was true but at least he would go back and tell her it was. After Mary and Zim left the orphanage, they decided to hang out at his house to play with Slippers. Mary picked up the bunny from his cage and had him run around Zim's floor. Mary sat with Zim on his floor as they watched Slippers explore his room. Zim looked over at Mary and decided to ask her a few questions.

"Hey, Mary-Moo-Cow?" Zim called to her.

"Yes?" Mary asked him.

"What would you think if Zam and Gar were real characters? You know, real aliens trying to conquer the world. What would you think?"

"I would think we should stop them before their attempts actually work." Mary chuckled. Zim laughed as well.

"I suppose so." Zim agreed then ask a more serious question. "What if I changed?"

"Change, what do you mean?"

"I don't know maybe my appearance per say, what if I looked different. Would you still want to hang out with me?"

"Of course, I don't care what you look like; Zim is Zim no matter what." Mary answered him. Zim was glad to hear that and began putting his hand in his pocket reaching for the Gem.

"What if I changed?" Mary asked. "Would you want to be around me?"

"What do mean, you're appearance?"

"No, on the inside, what if I'm not as happy as I appear." Mary said seriously. Zim titled his head and then asked her.

"What's wrong? Are you not happy?" Zim asked her. Mary turned head and smiled at him.

"No, I'm fine. I'm happy." She said then Zim smiled at her.

"Good." Zim said and left the Gem in his pocket.

It was finally Saturday, the day of Tina's birthday party. He left work around 2 P.M. and followed the directions on the card Tina given him. Zim read the sloppy hand written note and it says she lives on 201st.

"That's pretty close to the park." Zim stated as he looked at the card. Zim stood at the bus stop and waited about twenty minutes for it to arrive. It took about thirty minutes of busing but he arrived at the stop just on time. When he got off, he searched the street until he found the neighborhood she lived in. It was a wooden fenced up neighborhood in which the houses looked all the same. He went into the unfenced entrance and noticed all the houses had the same colors and designs, a two story building with stairs leading to the doorway and a garage. He walked around the neighborhood and saw that all the houses were connected. No yards. Zim found it very strange and followed the house number to find Tina's. Zim walked a couple of blocks until he found hers. It was tan, had a stairway leading to the door, a garage with one car sitting outside in the parking space, and two windows on the second story. Zim cringed at the boring looking house and took his present out of his backpack. The ipoop card was in a brightly colored yellow box with a red ribbon on it. He thought it was a pretty decent wrapping job. Zim looked at his watch and saw it was 3:10pm. He was ten minutes late. Zim quickly brushed any dirt off his black coat and pants and walked up the cemented stairway. Zim rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds until he heard someone coming. The door opened. It was Tina.

"Hey!" Tina greeted annoyed. "You're late!"

"Only by twelve minutes." Zim said rolling his eyes. "Well Happy Birthday, here's you're present."

"Thank you!" Tina said gratefully as she took the yellow thin box. "Come inside, everyone's waiting."

"For me?" Zim asked oddly.

"Yeah, we can't celebrate until everybody arrived so we been hanging out until you got here." Tina explained as Zim entered her home. Her house looked a lot bigger on the inside. When they entered, he saw the stairs leading to the upper rooms, then to his right a stairway leading to the garage. Zim followed Tina through the hallway to the living room. It was a big room that had a kitchen to the righter corner with two big windows towards the back of the house. He saw a lady preparing on the counters. To the left of the kitchen, there was a long square table that had four chairs around it. Two of them were contained by a child and an older man staring at a piece of paper. And to the middle of the living room he saw his friends sitting on two long blue couches watching T.V. Everyone was here; Dib, Gretchen and Josh were sitting in front of the T.V. while Brian and Mary were sitting to the left.

"Hey, our final guest arrived." Tina said getting her parents attention.

"Oh, good." The woman said grabbing the cake off the counter putting it on the square table. She walked over to greet Zim. She was slender and tall like Tina but the only difference between the two was her mother's long brown hair. She greeted Zim with a smile and Zim grinned back.

"It's about time you get here." Dib complained. "What you do, get lost?"

"No," Zim said angrily. "I was taking my time so I won't get lost."

"Likely story," Dib muttered.

"Well, I'm glad that you finally made it to our home." Tina's mom said.

"Mom, Dad, Maya. This is Zim." Tina introduced him. Zim waved at them as her family stared at him. Zim saw the older, huge, angry looking man got out of his seat and walked towards him quickly. Zim, thinking that the man was going to attack him, backed away until the he gave Zim a big toothy smile and grabbed his right hand to shake it.

"Nice to meet cha' Kiddo. My name is Howe, but you can call me Tina's Dad." Tina's Dad said shaking Zim's hand hard. Her Dad's grip was so strong that felt like his fingers were breaking.

"Nice to meet you…Sir." Zim said gasping as her Dad let go of his hand.

"Such manners." Tina's Dad said impressed. "Maya come over here and introduce yourself."

"Okay…" Maya moaned. She got off her seat and walked over towards him. She had brown long pig-tails similar to her sister's hair style, average height for a ten year old, and was wearing a light pink dress with white dress shoes.

"I'm Maya…" Maya greeted half interested. Then she stared at Zim intensely. "You're funny looking. Are you human?"

"Maya, that's not very nice. Apologize this instant." Her mother protested. When Zim heard the little girl's comment, he lifted his head up and laughed.

"It's quite alright she don't need to apologized. I get that all the time. You have a very observant kid." Zim rubbing Maya's head misplacing her pig-tails.

"Well, she does know how to find the remote…" Tina's mom said scratching her head at Zim's strange compliment. Maya broke free from Zim's grasp, ran behind her father and stuck her tongue out at him. Zim ignored her and came over to the couches to greet his friends.

"So how was work?" Josh asked him.

"Oh, you know the usual." Zim said finding spot next to Mary. Mary saw Zim sitting next to her and smiled at him. Zim saw her smile and returned the same expression. "So what have you guys been doing?"

"We were playing video games until someone had to be whiny." Brian said glaring at Josh.

"You totally cheated!" Josh accused Brian standing up complaining at his lost in Mortal Smack-Down.

"No I didn't. You just suck at fighting games. At least Gretchen was a challenge." Brian stated his attention to Gretchen's mad skill with the game.

"Yeah, my brothers and I played that game all the time." Gretchen said pleased.

"Yep. My girlfriend, the gamer." Dib said proudly wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

"Alright kids, gather around the table, it's time to sing to the birthday girl!" Tina's mom shrieked.

"Yay! Cake!" Tina screamed in joy. Zim stared at the girl strangely.

"How old are you turning again?" Zim sarcastically questioned the girl's odd behavior, but Tina didn't answer, she went up to her cake and stared happily into it's brightly pink frosting, delicate yellow roses to the corners of the rectangle vanilla cake lacing her name in cursive, Happy Birthday Tina.

"Isn't this the cutest cake you ever laid eyes on?" Tina questioned her friends as they stared at the cake.

"Yeah, it sure looks nice." Gretchen commented.

"Thank you," Tina's mother replied. "It was nothing."

"You decorated it?" Gretchen answered her impressed. "It looks like one of the cakes at the stores."

"Yes, I am one of the grocery store's bakers."

"Her cakes are amazing, one of the bests!" Tina ranted about her mother's cooking ability.

"Oh, no, they are not the best." Tina's mother denied.

"Yes they are Dear, take credit for your achievements like me!" Tina's father boosted.

"Like accidentally falling asleep on the couch." Maya smart-mouthed her father.

"Hey, they are very comfortable couches." Tina's father told her daughter. Tina's mother chuckled as she grabbed the candles and lighter to ready the cake for the birthday wish. She placed seventeen candles upon the cake and lit each one.

"Alright, Everybody, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you…" Tina's mother started up the song as they follow along. Tina stood at the front of the table staring at the candles flickering as her friends sang to her. Zim could barely keep up with the song. He only sang Happy Birthday couple of times, but knew the words from watching T.V. He never really had a birthday party before, heck he never really thought of celebrating it. He didn't think it was that important. After they were done singing, Tina closed her eyes to make a wish and blew out her candles making the flames dance before they were extinguished. Everyone except for Zim clapped.

"Great, you're another year older. Can I go to my friend's sleepover?" Maya asked her parents.

"You don't want to stay to celebrate your sister's birthday?" Dib questioned the little girl.

"It's okay, today is also one of her friend's birthday party so I'm letting her go." Tina explained. Dib nodded.

"In a minute but first, we want to give Tina's present." Her father spoke while her mother smiled at their daughters. "Everyone follow me." Tina's father walked out of the living room towards the front door heading downstairs to the garage.

"What is it Dad?" Tina said. "Is it a ping-pong table?"

"No," Tina's father said.

"Bet you five bucks it's a car." Dib whispered to Zim.

"You're on." Zim whispered back accepting Dib's challenge.

"Here it is!" Tina's father pronounced as he opened the door. It was a compact ultra violet 2030 Scenario. Tina screamed in delight as she ran to her new car.

"Is this really my car?" Tina questioned her family.

"Of course it is. You got your license and proved yourself responsible."

"Can I drive it now?" Tina asked.

"Nope, not yet, we haven't got insurance for it, but next week you will." Her father promised her.

"Thanks you guys!" Tina said hugging both her mother and father. Dib smiled at Zim putting his hand out in Zim's face.

"Pay up." Dib spoke.

"Damn." Zim muttered giving Dib the five dollar bill.

"Can we go now?" Maya said impatiently.

"Sure, grab your things; I'll meet you in the car." Tina's father told his daughter.

"Yay! Happy Birthday Tina!" Maya peeped as she ran upstairs to her room as her father left towards the front door. He went outside. Then Maya ran downstairs and out the front door. They heard the car start up and drive away. Tina went up to her car and pulled on the driver's door but it was locked.

"Mom, where's the key? I want sit in my car." Tina asked.

"I'm afraid your father has them. Why don't we go upstairs and continue the party." Tina's mother suggested.

"Okay." Tina moaned then let go of the car door. Her mother led the way to the living room as she and the rest of the gang followed.

"Lucky," Josh said. "I can't believe you got a car for your birthday."

"Yeah, I know, I'm so happy!" Tina expressed her glee and hugged her boyfriend.

"Cool, now we can bum some rides off Tina so we don't have to take the bus." Zim said bursting Tina's bubble. Brian, Dib and Gretchen thought of Zim's suggestion and nodded.

"What? I'm not going to be anyone's chauffeur." Tina said putting her foot down.

"Relax, I'm kidding, you won't be our chauffeur, you're going to be our bestest friend we ever had that owned a car and would happily drive us to places." Zim rephrased his statement.

"Exactly, hey wait a minute…" Tina said. "That's the same thing, quit talking or you'll never get any rides."

Zim shut his mouth like Tina wanted him and they sat down around the coffee table so Tina can open the rest of her presents. Zim, Mary and Josh sat at one couch while Dib, Gretchen, and her mother sat on the other. Tina sat in front of the T.V. to open her presents. Tina picked up the first present which was Zim's and opened the box. She saw the ipoop card for 25 dollars worth of songs and smiled.

"New music, alright! Thanks Zim." Tina said.

"Don't mention it." Zim said and Tina moved to the next present. It was slim and rectangular wrapped in blue paper. Tina unwrapped the present and saw it was a movie, When the World Goes Boom II.

"Wow, I always wanted to see this movie. Thanks Dib." Tina said and Dib nodded his head. Tina moved to the next present which was a box in pink wrapping paper and a green bow on top. It read from Mary.

"I wonder what this might be." Tina said opening the box. It was a black hooded jacket with pink little hearts on the pockets and front. "Awww! This is so cute! Thank you Mary."

"I wasn't sure if that was the right size. I can return it if it's not." Mary said concerned. Tina tried on the coat and felt how snug it was.

"Mary, this size is perfect. I really needed a new coat."

"Good." Mary said smiling and then retracted it. Zim thought Mary's behavior was strange and looked at her. She was looking down at her hands if though she was distracted by something. Zim glanced back as Tina grabbed another present which was a small white box. It was from Gretchen. Tina opened the box and saw it contained a pair of music note earrings and necklace. The necklace had a huge treble clef hanging from the chain while the earrings were studs of eighth notes. They were silver.

"Wow, thank you so much." Tina said.

"Yeah, I thought you might like them." Gretchen said.

"Like them? I love them!" Tina shrieked and tried them on. She then grabbed the other present and opened it. It was a book titled, My Life as a Teenage Drama Queen, given by Brian.

"Thanks." She said. "I'll read it later."

"Okay." Brian said and Tina went to the last present from her boyfriend, Josh.

"What did you get me?" Tina asked him sweetly.

"You have to find out for yourself." Josh said handing her his present sitting next to on the floor. Tina ripped up the red paper and saw what it was.

"Oh my Gosh! It's that shirt I wanted last week at the mall but didn't have enough to buy it!" Tina said showing her friends the magenta pink t-shirt with a Neko Kitty face on it.

"Now, you're my Kitty Kat." Josh said then kissed her cheek. Tina blushed and hugged her boyfriend.

"Isn't that sweet." Tina mother said then got off the couch. "Who wants cake?"

"I do." Dib said.

"Me too." Gretchen said.

"Then come up here and get some." Tina's mother suggested. Dib, Gretchen, Brian, Josh and Tina went to the table to grab a piece of cake. Zim didn't want any cake because he was uncertain about the ingredients. Zim turned his head to see Mary wasn't getting cake.

"Don't want any cake?" Zim asked her.

"No, I'm not very hungry." Mary said then leaned placing her elbow on the arm of the couch. She rested her head on her hand.

"Are you feeling okay?" Zim asked her concerned.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine." Mary said removing her elbow from the couch smiling at Zim. Then she turned her head quickly. Zim didn't know what to think of Mary's odd behavior and was about to investigate more into it until…

"Hey, Zim, you're not doing anything, pop the movie in!" Dib shouted to him.

"Okay, okay!" Zim shouted at them as they ate their cake. Zim shrugged his shoulders, took the movie out of its case and placed it into the DVD player. Zim sat next to Mary. He wondered what might have been troubling her. He assumed that she was maybe a little sick but didn't bother to ask any other questions. Josh, Tina, Brian, Gretchen and Dib sat down on the couch with their cake to watch the beginning of the movie. Tina's mother turned off the lights as she left the living room. The front door opened. It was her father returning from dropping off Maya. They both went upstairs leaving the kids alone as they began to watch the movie.

"I heard it was nominated best movie of the year." Josh said.

"I watched it already. It's pretty good." Brian said.

"Don't tell me the ending, please" Tina told him.

"Yeah, I'm such a spoiler…" Brain said sarcastically. "It turns out that the guy-"

"Brian!" Tina peeped at him as Brian snickered. The movie dragged on for two hours. The movie is about a man trying to save thousands of people on his yacht as the world's deadliest volcanoes exploded like the first movie but this time instead of one huge volcano erupting, it was several. He and his rich buddies were helping people escape the land but soon become mad with power and throw people off their boats. The hero of the story has to save the survivors and deal with his friends insanity. In the middle of the movie, Tina's parents came back from upstairs saying they were going to be out for a while. Tina said okay and they went back to watching. At the end of the movie, the world stopped exploding and the hero made his boat back to land with his survivors while his friends' boats sank.

"I would totally do that…" Josh said amazed.

"Push people off your boat?" Zim questioned him.

"No, steal a yacht and save people. I would be like that ark dude." Josh said

"Noah?" Brian corrected him.

"Yeah, but instead of rescuing animals it would be people. Noah of humanity!" Josh said proudly.

"That movie was so far-fetched." Dib commented looking at the DVD cover. "What are the possibilities of all the volcanoes erupting at the same time?"

"It could happen." Zim disagreed. "This planet is very unpredictable. The world might go boom in a couple of hours and we wouldn't know."

"True, but we do have the technology and warn people before the anything happen." Dib responded.

"Technology can go so far in predicting disasters." Zim spoke wisely. Dib thought about it and agreed.

"Whatever, I liked the movie, lots of action." Tina said happily.

"Good, I'm glad you enjoy it but I have more to your present." Dib said putting his hand in his cloak's pocket. (Took about three washes to remove yogurt.)

"You do?" Tina said surprised.

"Yep." Dib said retrieving a DVD disk. "It's another video. It's kind of a treat for all to enjoy."

"What is it? Is it a like a movie off the internet or something?"

"No, it's kind of a home video I found when I was cleaning my room. It's hilarious."

"Home video?" Zim questioned. "Of what exactly, Dib?" Dib smirked evilly as he walked up to the DVD player.

"Have you heard of Aurora Davis?" Dib asked them.

"Yes! She was my favorite pop idol when I was a thirteen." Tina said.

"Yeah, her stuff was on the radio all the time back then. It was so annoying." Josh remarked.

"Aurora Davis, she sounds familiar I remember..." Zim said then didn't finish his sentence figuring out what was on the DVD. "Dib, don't you dare!"

"Dare what?" Brian asked interested.

"Yep, that what it was." Dib said smiling taking the movie out of the player. "This is a video of Zim singing and dancing to Aurora Davis' hit single Our Shooting Star."

"What?" Josh said cracking up. "You sang to a girl song!"

"I used to sing to that song all the time!" Tina said laughing.

"Me too." Gretchen agreed. "I didn't know you liked that type of music, Zim."

"It's not my music taste!" Zim denied then turned to Dib who put the disk in the player. "If you play that video, I will never forgive you!"

"I don't care, this is revenge on the behalf of my coat!" Dib said then played the video. The video showed a younger, shorter looking Zim wearing a red long sleeved turtle neck and black pants. He had his disguise on and signature black gloves. In his hand he had a toy microphone. Zim was standing in the middle of the living room floor at Dib's house. Zim glared into the digital camera.

"I'm not doing this." Preteen Zim spoke.

"You have to do it. I dared you." They heard Dib speak. He was the one recording it.

"No, I don't." Zim said.

"Come on, I did my dare of running around the mall screaming, 'I'm crazy! Give me your food! The end of the world is near!' I scared like thirty people until I got in trouble by the mall cops. You can at least do this."

"But I didn't record you doing it. Why are you recording this?"

"So we can look back and have a good laugh about it." Dib said. When Dib heard him in the video, he sat next to Zim and elbowed his shoulder. Zim frowned at his so called friend.

"More like you would have a good laugh humiliating me!"

"It just one song, I even downloaded the karaoke version so you can do it right."

"Fine!" Zim agreed then pushed play on the stereo system behind him. Zim heard the song and started tapping his right to the beat then began to sing.

"We maybe apart again tonight, you on your own planet and so am I." Zim sang proudly into the microphone. "Don't cry my dear, I'll be here. My love is like a shining star, so please, don't let me burn out!" Zim then started imitating the pop idol's dancing by stepping around in a circular motion with his left arm in the air as he sang the chorus. "Cause you and I are like a shooting star, burning brightly through, a far. When I look into your eyes our love is clear. We will carry on…" Zim stopped in the center of the living room and twirl as he sang the line. "Until our star unites."

His friends laughed after what they watched. Zim never felt so embarrassed in his entire life, he looked over to see what Mary thought of his dancing to his surprise, and she wasn't laughing at him but smiling. The first time he saw her genuinely smile this entire night. He went back to the watching video as he heard Dib laughing.

"Zim! You know how to dance like Aurora!" Dib said astonish in the video.

"Of course, if I'm gonna be dared to sing like her, I might as well be good at her dancing too." Zim said proudly holding the microphone to his chest.

"But I dared you five minutes ago, how would you be so good at her dancing unless…Ah ha hah ha ha Zim you like dancing to her music videos, don't you?"

"No you lie, you lie! Turn it off!" Zim screamed at him trying to grab Dib's camera. Then the image was viewed lower to the ground showing both Dib and Zim in the video.

"Hey, that's a expensive camera," Dib said then picked it up from the ground. The video showed nothing but carpet as it recorded them bickering. "You could have broken it.

"So, it doesn't matter, I sang the song. I'm done with the dare."

"You didn't even sing the whole song. You have to sing the whole thing."

"You said sing to Aurora Davis. Your dare said nothing about finishing it."

"Okay, well let me turn this off so I won't waste the batter-"The video stopped there. His friends stopped laughing and stared at him.

"So, are you going to finish the song?" Josh teased him.

"No, I am not." Zim bitterly replied.

"Wow, Zim, I wished you were in my dance camp. I could have used you in my number." Tina joined in the ridicule.

"So did you have her CD too?" Brian asked him.

"No, I do not." Zim and shaking his head, then Dib sat next to Brian and whispered to the group. "Yes, he does."

They busted out laughing and Zim became even more embarrassed. Zim heard a slight chuckle. He turned to see Mary smiling at him.

"Aurora Davis is a great singer. I thought your singing and dancing was great." Mary told him.

"Thanks." Zim said ignoring the idiots laughing at him.

"That sure was entertaining," Brian began to say. "But I have to go. My folks want me home early. I have plans for tomorrow."

"Okay. Thanks for the book. See you at skool." Tina spoke as Brian left the house.

"So what should we do now?" Josh asked them.

"I know we could play some more video games. I'll get the snacks." Tina said walking towards the kitchen. When she returned, she had two bags of chips, a box of portable ice cream, and bottle of soda with six plastic cups. She placed the snacks on the table as they get ready for some serious video game playing. Zim and Mary watched as Dib, Tina, Gretchen and Josh played a four player racing game for two hours straight. Zim became bored by their playing and picked up the box of ice cream they already consumed and then became shocked by what was on it.

"Dib," Zim said. "This box has your name on it!"

"So," Dib responded then Zim continued to read the back of the box and quoted out loud.

"'Dib's frozen snacks are munch-able and portable and they allow you to enjoy delicious frozen snacks at times you couldn't or didn't before. Eat as many or a few as you want to satisfy your craving anytime, anywhere, anyhow!' So tell me, Gretchen is Dib's portable snacks that delicious or is the box lying?"

Gretchen pause the game then looked at Zim smirking, then responded. "I don't know, you tell me."

Tina and Josh laughed at Gretchen comeback as Dib and Zim stared at her mortified.

"What? Now how would I know whether Dib is delicious or not, I'm not his girlfriend?" Zim screamed at Gretchen.

"Sometimes you act like you are!" Gretchen screamed back. "Crying on his shoulder."

"That happened only one time! It means nothing!" Zim screamed at her.

"That's what they all say!" Gretchen said.

"Who says that, maybe you?" Zim screamed at her.

"Don't avoid the obvious, you're always so clingy."

"I am not, not like you, Mrs. Wrap-around."

"Wrap-around, you…"

Dib didn't know what to say or do as his best friend and girlfriend argued about him for about five minutes. All he did was closed his eyes and thought over in his mind. 'Find your happy place; find your happy place…'

"Dib," Gretchen snapped breaking his inner peace. "Who do you like better, Zim or me?"

"What? Are you really going to have me choosing sides?" Dib said shocked by this outcome.

"It's the only way we can settle this." Zim said. "Now choose, Earth-boy, you do you admire more, your girlfriend or me, Zim!"

"Why are you guys arguing about this? It's stupid!" Dib shouted at them. They looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"I don't know. To see where we stand, I guess." Gretchen said. Dib smacked his forehead then got up and went to Gretchen.

"You're my girlfriend, Gretchen, but he's my brother." Dib said holding her hands.

"But he's not really your brother." Gretchen tried correcting him.

"I know." Dib said seriously. "I can't choose between both of you."

"I see…" Gretchen said then let go of Dib's hands. "I see you made your choice. I'm gonna go home now."

"What? Wait Gretchen I was just saying..." Dib tried reasoning with her but Gretchen was gone before he could. Gretchen slammed the door in Dib's face. Dib turned around and glared at Zim.

"This is your fault!" Dib accused him.

"My fault, how is it my fault?" Zim screamed at him.

"Because of your stupid ice cream joke, Gretchen's mad at me."

"I was trying to be funny; she's the one with the problem." Zim said. Dib sat on the couch and shook his head.

"Whatever…" Dib said feeling down.

"That was awkward. Maybe we should call it a night." Tina suggested. "It's already 11 P.M."

"Eleven!" Josh said surprised. "Its way pass my curfew! I have to get home! Oh, Dad's going to be so pissed!" Josh kissed Tina good-bye and ran out the front door. Dib, Zim, Mary and Tina was shock how fast he ran then Tina focused her attention on her remaining friends.

"Do you have anyone to pick you guys up?" Tina asked them.

"There are the buses, they always run late." Zim said going through his backpack finding his bus book. He flipped through the pages to find their bus home, and then frowned upon it. "I can't believe this; the last bus ran until eleven. We just missed it. Maybe we should call Prof. Membrane for-"

"Don't even try. He's been so busy with that project; he doesn't even answer his phone. I left like five messages asking where he left the scissors, but no response."

"Oh, have you found the pair of scissors?" Zim asked him.

"Yes, eventually but that's not important. We don't have a ride home." Dib said.

"Well, don't expect a ride home from my Dad." Mary said. "It's pretty much the same situation. He says he was going to be working all night also."

"I would drive you guys home but my parents are still out. I guess you guys could crash here until morning." Tina decided.

"Your parents are still out?" Dib questioned her.

"Yes, they like to celebrate my birth."

"That's pretty irresponsible." Dib commented.

"Hey, don't criticize them. At least I know they will be home soon unlike your guys' parents." Tina yelled pointing at Dib.

"Fair enough," Dib said to that.

"I'll leave a message for my Dad that I'm staying over." Mary said getting up reaching into her skirt's pocket to retrieve her cell phone. Mary walked out of the living room to leave her message.

"Help me clean up if you want to stay the night." Tina ordered Dib and Zim. They nodded their heads and helped Tina clean up the living room by picking up the left over plates and cups from earlier. Mary walked into the living room and helps those guys as well. In about fifteen minutes, everything was orderly and Tina came back from upstairs and gave Dib and Zim each a blanket.

"You guys can sleep out in the living room. Mary you can sleep in my sister's bed or in my room if you like. Oh, this is turning out to be a slumber party. Mary, let's tell each other's secrets and swear not to tell anyone!" Tina said grabbing Mary's arm leading her upstairs. Dib and Zim looked over at the two vacant couches; one long couch and a shorter one to its corner.

"I call the big couch." Dib said sitting on it.

"You can have it; I don't need that much space." Zim said sitting on the other couch. Then he lay down. Dib got up, turned off the living room light and went back on his couch. Zim felt cold so he wrapped the blanket around him as he began to find a comfortable spot. They lay silent for a while until Zim spoke.

"I'm sorry I argued with Gretchen."

Dib heard him and then replied.

"It wasn't your fault. I don't know what's up with her. We have been arguing a lot lately."

"Are you guys going to break up?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

"Oh…" Zim said.

"Hey, Zim."

"What?"

"If you really want to put the moves on Mary, you could sneak up to her room."

"And do what?"

"Say you can't sleep and need company."

"That's the stupidest excuse to get in a girl's bed that I ever heard, sneaking up in Mary's bed, what kind of alien do you take me for?"

"An alien that doesn't take risks, obliviously."

"Silence, I'm done speaking to you!" Zim said turning over into the cushions of the couch. Dib laughed then became quiet as well. After a few moments of blinking his eyes, Zim closed them shut and finally went to sleep.


	25. Mary's Melody

Author's note: Yep, another chapter, warning it's very dramatic. Also it has a special appearance of Johnny The Homicidal Maniac so look for him, he's there. Enjoy!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 25: Mary's Melody

It was a peaceful night at Tina's house as Zim was having the most, dare I say, wonderful dream…

Zim was in his room holding Mary around her arms. They were sitting on his bed snuggling together. Mary looked into his red eyes then closed hers awaiting Zim's lips. Zim closed his eyes as well, leaned over, and pressed his lips against hers. They kissed intensely yet gently that Zim slips his tongue into her mouth. He thought he felt his tongue touch the back her head but continued to passionately kiss her until he heard a sudden snapping sound. He opened his eyes and outside his body, he saw that his tongue broke through the back of Mary's skull.

"Ahhhhhh!" Zim screamed suddenly as he awoke. He looked around and saw that he wasn't in his room. He was in Tina's house. He saw Dib was sleeping on the couch across from his and sighed.

"It was just a dream. That's it, no more horror alien sci-fi movies for me no matter how interesting." Zim told himself.

"Zim…"

Zim heard his name. It was Dib murmuring lying on the couch with his eyes closed.

"What's going on?" Dib asked him half-asleep.

"It was just a scary dream; sorry if I woke you." Zim answered sitting up.

"Was it the same one?" Dib asked.

"No, it was different." Zim answered him.

"Okay…" Dib said getting ready to fall back to sleep.

"Hey, are Tina's parents back yet?" Zim asked Dib.

"Yeah, they came in a while ago."

"Perfect," Zim said thinking of a way to escape. "I'm going to go outside for a bit. Clear my head, ya know."

"You're not going to wander off are you?"

"No, I'm going to sit on the porch. That nightmare really spooked me."

"Alright, just don't be stupid enough to lock the door behind you…" Dib said falling back to sleep. Zim smirked on how clever his friend speaks while half conscience. He got up and put his shoes and jacket on. He sneaked around the couch carefully as he left the living room. Zim left the lights off so he wouldn't draw attention to himself and walked through the hallway to the front door. He opened the door and quietly closed it behind him. He turned around and to his surprise; he saw he wasn't alone for Mary was sitting outside on the concrete steps.

"Mary?" Zim said. Mary heard her name and became startled. She turned around to see Zim standing behind her.

"Oh, hey Zim." Mary said smiled weakly then turned her head to look up at the stars.

"What are you doing out here?" Zim asked her.

"I had trouble sleeping so I decided to get some fresh air. What are you doing out here?" Mary asked him.

"Same reason." Zim said. He looked at Mary and saw she still looked a little distracted. Zim thought of something to do that might help her. "You know what I do to help me fall back to sleep."

"What?" Mary asked.

"I go for a walk; would you like to go with me?"

"What about the weirdoes?"

"I'll kick their ass." Zim stated. Mary nodded knowing it was true.

"But where would we go?"

"To the park; it's close by." Zim suggested. Mary looked down at the concrete step then nodded.

"Okay."

Mary stood up and they walked down the steps. They walked through the neighborhood quietly without speaking. Zim stared at the girl and her troubling appearance. He didn't know what to do in this type of situation. Earlier he asked if she was feeling okay and she said she was fine. Zim questioned whether the girl was lying to him or not. They walked out of the neighborhood, a couple of blocks later, they were at the park. They walked through the deserted piece of land and onto a stone bridge. They stood on the bridge for a little while staring at the stream. Zim stared at her sad face reflecting the river and couldn't stand being silent any longer.

"Mary, what's going on?" Zim blankly asked. Mary turned her head and saw Zim looked very frustrated by her attitude. Mary looked back at the water.

"Nothing." Mary denied.

"Nothing my ass, you been acting very strangely and I don't believe it's 'nothing.'" Zim said then sighed. "I know you may think I being annoying but I'm concerned. If there anything that might be bothering you, I want you to know that I'm here for you and want to help. Please tell me."

"It's about my mother." Mary finally said.

"Don't tell me she stole another alien again!" Zim protested.

"No, she didn't, well I don't know. I haven't spoken to her since the convention and I want it that way, but my father wants me to speak to her."

"Why?"

"He says that my mom called him want to speak with me saying that she was sorry. He told me about it weeks ago but I never returned my mother's calls. He confronted me about it yesterday and I told him I never wanted to speak to that woman again."

"It sounds like you don't see her as your mother." Zim stated.

"You're right, I don't. That boat has sunk long ago but I was foolish enough to sail on it."

"Do you mind explaining?" Zim asked curious. Mary sighed then looked back at the water.

"When I was about ten years old, I was an independent kid. I always did everything by myself. I cooked; I cleaned and pretty much learned how to do anything and stayed out of trouble because my parents were busy people. They were both scientists. My father and she were a team at the lab. They worked together all the time. He was the brains and she was the idealist coming up with great ideas. They always seemed happy and we were. We were always very happy together. I thought that if I helped as much as possible and be a good kid, we would stay happy forever, but I was sadly wrong. I guess it was much more complicated than that." Mary said and paused for a moment.

"How?" Zim asked her.

"It all began when my father and she were ready to reveal their greatest project. It was a satellite that was able to reach transmissions from any planet they set their coordinates on. They thought it was a great way to see if there was intelligent life out in space but it became a complete mockery when they pointed it at certain planets and they came up with no signal. They tried about fifty planets until they finally gave up. Their colleagues and reporters just laughed at them. They were both devastated by their failure for a while. My father quickly recovered from the humiliation and continued his work in the lab with everyone else but my mother didn't. She on the other hand, wanted to take some time off. I thought it was great at the time because I would be able to spend some time with my mom but all she did was shut herself in her study from morning to night. My father said it would be better to not bother my mom for he thought she just needed her space. I thought so too and we left her a lone keeping busy in her study, but before long she would keep herself in that room all the time. One day, when I passed by her room, she wasn't there. I thought maybe she was finally out of her room for good and was going back to work, but when I told Dad about it, he said he didn't know where she went. We didn't know where she went. I went to skool as usual and after I came home, everything changed forever."

"What happen?"

"When I came home, I went upstairs and saw that the study across from my room was shut. I pressed my ear to the door and heard some typing and smiled. It was my mother. I opened the door without warning and called her name. When I looked into the room, I saw it was full of pictures of UFO sightings, and poorly drawn alien covering the walls and book shelves. I glanced all over the walls thinking this was what my mother been doing for three weeks? I went up to her as she typed upon her computer. I asked her where she has been putting my hand on her shoulder; she finally noticed my presence and stood up. She greeted me asking how skool was. I told her it was fine then I asked about the pictures on the wall. She smiled at me and said it was her research that she went to a UFO convention and told me she saw an alien that had an android and a pig-shaped space ship."

Zim backed away awkwardly when he heard this but Mary continued on.

"I thought she was crazy at the time which worried me. I thought my mother lost her mind. I asked her when she was planning to go back to work. She looked down at me, laughed, and said she was never going back. I asked her why and told her that Dad missed her, that what she was doing locked in this room was crazy and that it wasn't good. Then she…" Mary trailed off.

"She what?" Zim asked coming closer.

"She slapped me." Mary said placing her hand on her cheek. "Nobody ever slapped me. So when she struck me, I cried. It hurt. She kept on screaming at me saying that I didn't know what was good for her, that I was just a child that I was like everybody else mocking her. I didn't know what she was talking about. I wasn't mocking her but when I raised my head to try to tell her; she was holding a chair over her head. She stared at me with disgust in her eyes and at that moment the mother I once knew was gone and a monster has taken her place."

Zim felt a rush of anger consume him as he clenched his fists and then bitterly asked. "Did she hit you with that chair?"

"No, I ran away before she could. I ran away so far that I ended up getting lost in the city. It eventually got dark. I began to cry not knowing where I was and what to do until someone helped me. She was Sister Ana."

"Sister Ana?" Zim questioned simmering his anger. "Is that why you really volunteered there?"

"No, not at all. In fact I didn't know she ran the orphanage or her name at that matter at that time. I was just a lost little girl. She asked me what was wrong and I told her I was lost. She then asked me if I knew anyone to call. I remembered my father cell phone number and told her there was. She took me to the orphanage to call my father and Sister Ana explained how she found me. My father arrived at the orphanage quickly asking if I was alright, thanked Ana and took me home. In the car, I told him everything that happened. I never saw my father furious when he faced my mother. He kept on screaming, you threw a chair at our daughter, you threw a chair at our daughter. I watched as they argued at each other but I paid more attention to what my mother said. She told him that she hated me, she never wanted a child then she grabbed her papers, dropped her ring and left. I never saw my father so devastated. He got down on his knees. I came up to him and he kept on saying he was sorry over and over again. About a year later, my mother returned to finalize the divorce. She told my father and me she was sorry, that she had a mental breakdown and never meant all those things she said and want to start over. I told her I forgave her but now I wish I didn't."

"Why did you forgive her?" Zim asked sincerely.

"I thought that if I did, things would go back to the way they were. I would have my mom again and I would be happy, but she rarely visits and when she does, she has me set up those damn conventions. I thought that if I helped, we would bond but all she did was focus on her conventions. She barely talked to me. Then that night, when she captured that poor alien, I realized my mother never really changed that she was the same monster I encountered years ago. She never cared about me, never cared about anybody…"

"Your mother's a fool." Zim gravely said. Mary then grabbed the bridge's ledge and lowered her head.

"No, I'm a fool." She cried. "How stupid am I wasting all those years trying to find some kind of connection to her that was never really there?" Mary rests her arms on the ledge, cupped them and buried into them as she cried. "All I ever wanted was my Mom to cared about me…"

He heard her cry and felt horrible. He didn't know what to do or what to say at that matter so he did what he felt was best. Zim reached his arms towards her, scooped her onto his chest and held her. Mary felt his presence and tried to push away fearing her tears would hurt him but held her closer. Then he whispered to her.

"I care about you…"

Mary grasped onto Zim's shirt and cried into his chest. Zim felt her become weak sinking to the ground. Zim held her as they sat upon the bridge. He held her close trying to comfort her but she kept on crying. Zim wanted her to stop but knew better to wait.

"Hey," called a strange voice behind him. Zim turned around, looked up and saw a very peculiar skinny man staring at them. The man had black pointing hair that was shaped like horns on while the rest of his hair looked shaved off. The man wore a black cloak, neat looking tall boots and a piece of paper taped to his shirt saying "lucky me!" Zim then noticed that the man had specs of blood on his face and clothes. He was carrying a huge plastic sack. Zim stared at him horrified.

"Is she okay?" The man asked.

"Yes, yes, everything's fine!" Zim immediately answered.

"Good. You guys shouldn't be alone in the middle of the night. You don't know what kind of creepy crawly weirdo psycho killers like to hunt at this hour." The man advised them. Then the bag started to move on his back. The man felt this.

"Excuse me," He said putting the bag on the bridge and started kicking at it. "Shut up, Shut up! You deserve your fate by making that face at me! You know what I mean!" The man shrieked as he kicked the bag. Zim was utterly shocked by what he was witnessing. He stood up holding Mary.

"Keep your head down and don't say anything." Zim whispered to her. Mary understood and nodded as she kept herself hidden.

"You know what, you're right." Zim said. "We better get going."

"You're not going to tell the Chihuahua this, right?"

"What do you mean; we didn't see anything weird tonight. In fact, we are very tired so we are going to bed. They are expecting us home any minute now, yes, let's go." Zim said backing away with Mary. They both turned around, and on Zim's command they bolted.

"Hmmm…" The man hummed at their strange behavior picking up the bag placing it on his back. "It's like they never seen a homicidal maniac before. Oh, well, wheee! Back home we go!"

They ran a few blocks without resting. Zim looked over his shoulder and stopped running. He wasn't following them. Mary stopped noticing Zim's halt then walked back to him.

"Good, he didn't follow us." Zim said relieved.

"Who was that man?" Mary asked.

"I don't know but I do know I don't ever want to be on his bad side." Zim remarked. Mary nodded and they walked side by side to Tina's house. Zim looked at Mary and saw her wipe the tears from her face. She wasn't crying anymore.

"Do you feel better?" Zim asked.

"Yes," Mary said wiping her final tear. "I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me. It's strange; I never told anybody this before. I feel like an emotional wreck."

"Don't be, you probably had those feelings bottled in you for quite a while and trust me that was a lot of soda." Zim joked to her.

"I do trust you, that's probably why I told you." Mary told him but Zim looked away and mutter to himself.

"I'm not worthy of your trust…"

Mary heard a whisper but had a hard time understanding exactly what he said. Mary and Zim kept quiet on their way back to Tina's house. Zim opened the door and they both sneaked in. Mary walked up the stairs and half way up, she turned around to see Zim standing at the doorway.

"Well, good night." Mary said to him.

"Good night." Zim repeated back. Mary walked up the stairs as Zim walked into the living room and laid upon his couch. He glanced over at Dib who was sound asleep, then over at the clock on the wall and noticed it was 2:15. Zim rubbed his eye lids from exhaustion and contemplate over what Mary told him. He never thought that Mary had such a hard life. She was always so cheerful all the time, who could have imagine how much was weighing her down. Zim touched his chest and slightly felt it sting from her tears. Her pain became his pain and it was too much to handle. When he held her, felt no warmth but guilt.

That morning, Dib awoke from his sleep. He sat up from his couch and yawned. He scratched his head and looked over to see if Zim was asleep, but he wasn't. He was sitting on the couch waiting. He had his blanket folded on the edge of the couch. Thinking that he slept in, Dib looked at the wall clock but saw it was 9 A.M.

"Zim, did you have trouble sleeping?" Dib asked him. Zim looked over at Dib.

"Yeah…" Zim mumbled and looked back to the floor again.

"Good, you guys are up." Tina peeped peppy-like as she entered the living room. She was already dressed and ready for the day. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"Sure, I'm hungry." Dib said while Zim nodded.

"Okay, well we have bagels and…" Tina said looking through the cupboards.

"I'll have a bagel." Zim said.

"Me too." Dib said.

"Alright. I'm gonna put them in the toaster." Tina said splitting two bagels in putting them into her double toaster. "I didn't think you guys would be up this early."

"Yep, skool does that to you even if it was the weekends." Dib told her.

"I hear ya, I'm up early but I can't say the same for Mary, she still snoozing. Do you guys want to hang out after breakfast?" Tina asked.

"Nah, I gotta bail, I have a lot of homework to do." Dib said.

"Me too, I have to make sure Gir and Minimoose are okay." Zim agreed.

"Okay, hey maybe I should wake up Mary so we can all have breakfast together."

"No, let her sleep." Zim gravely advised then went into the kitchen to retrieve his bagel that popped out of the toaster. Tina and Dib nodded and joined Zim for breakfast at the dining table. After that, Dib and Zim grabbed their coats, said farewell to Tina and left to the bus stop. Dib watched Zim as he walked. Zim was pretty quiet. He thought that Zim had a rough night sleeping on the couch but he didn't act cranky. They both stood quietly at the bus stop until Dib started up a conversation.

"So, that was some party or what?" Dib asked him.

"I suppose." Zim muttered.

"That video of you singing Aurora Davis was a riot. You were all girly and such, you must feel embarrassed." Dib said hoping to strike a chord into Zim's anger but it didn't work. Zim saw the bus coming, waited for it to pull up and got on it. Dib got on it too and they yet again became quiet on the way back to their neighborhood. Zim pulled the bus' cord to get off. Dib quickly followed Zim as they left the bus. Zim walked fast that it was hard for Dib to keep up.

"Zim, slow down, what's the matter with you?" Dib yelled at him. Zim stopped walking and Dib caught up.

"I'm not telling her…" Zim whispered.

"What?" Dib said thinking he misheard him.

"I'm not telling her anything, not about me or my stupid alien culture existence. Nothing." Zim stated coldly.

"Why? What happened?" Dib asked confused.

"I don't want to talk about it." Zim said walking away but Dib quickly blocked him standing in front of him.

"You're going to have to talk because right now, you are speaking craziness and I want to know why."

"Do you really want to know, Dib, do you really want to know what's eating me inside?" Zim screamed to him.

"Yes! Tell me!" Dib screamed back.

"It's my fault!" Zim screamed.

"What are you talking about, what's your fault?" Dib asked confused.

"Her mother treated her badly because I was there at that Convention. If I wasn't there, she would still had her mother."

"What?" Dib said. "You're going to have to explain because I seem to be missing something here."

"Mary talked to me yesterday, she told me what was bothering her and it was her mom's stupid obsession with a creature like me. Because of me, her mother abandoned her and treats Mary like crap every time she sees her."

"How can that be your fault?" Dib questioned him. "It has nothing to do with you."

"Doesn't it Dib, think about it. Mary's life is so screwed up because her mother seen me. I'm the one that caused the girl l love pain! So to not further her suffering, I'm not telling her squat."

"So what are you going to do?" Dib said starting to get annoyed. "Not talk to her."

"If that's what it takes to keep her safe from the truth, then yes." Zim said sadly. Dib shook his head.

"That girl opened herself to you and you're going to run away." Dib stated angrily. "You know what, Zim? I don't think you cared for her safety because if you did, you would have told her a long ago, no, I think you don't want to tell her the truth because you're scared. You're scared that she will won't accept the real you and you're using her grief as excuse to escape something that might cause you pain. That's just low, man. I never thought you could be such a coward."

"What's wrong with running away from something that's going to be painful? All I ever do is ruin everybody's life with my stupid alien mistakes!" Zim screamed then stormed away. Dib stared at his friend sadden by his comment then spoke.

"Zim, you fool, because you and your stupid alien mistakes, you made my family become closer then they ever been before." Dib said watching Zim disappear in the distance.

* * *

"Are you ready to go?" Tina asked Mary as she went downstairs.

"Yes, sorry that slept so long." Mary said a bit embarrassed but Tina giggled at her.

"Don't worry about it. Sometimes I sleep until noon too." Tina said. "How about I take you home?"

"Are you sure you can use your parents' car?" Mary asked her.

"It's not a problem, I should have asked if Zim and Dib wanted a ride but I guess it slipped my mind."

"So they left pretty early, huh?" Mary asked her.

"Yep, they said they had things to do so I let them go." Tina told her.

"Oh," Mary said then nodded.

"Just let me tell my mom and we'll get ready to go." Tina said then ran up the stairs to her parents' room. Mary stood quiet thinking about last night. 'I care about you…' Zim's words remained through her mind and made her blush. Then Tina ran quickly back downstairs and stared awkwardly at her.

"You're mighty red." Tina pointed out. "What are you thinking about?"

"N-nothing." Mary stuttered then blush a deeper red.

"Oh, Mary, you're so funny." Tina stated as she opened the door. Mary and Tina entered her parents' 2029 brown Wanova and left the driveway. Mary watched the road from the passenger seat as Tina drove her home.

"Thanks for having me over." Mary said.

"No problem, thanks for the great gift. I'm gonna wear it every day!" Tina said proudly then turned on her right-hand blinker, stopped at the light and made a right turn on the main road to Mary's house. They passed along a few neighborhoods until they came upon hers. Tina turned on the car's left-hand blinker light and turned left into her neighborhood. Tina drove by a few houses until they reached hers. Tina parked in Mary's driveway.

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Mary said taking her seat belt off.

"Oh yeah, we have skool tomorrow, damn." Tina said gripping the wheel.

"Thanks for the ride, I'll see you later." Mary said waving to Tina.

"K' bye." Tina said backing out of Mary's driveway. Mary entered her house and saw her father sleeping on the couch. She knew that he must have had a long night working. Mary smiled at her father, took the blanket that lied on the floor, and placed it over her father. She quietly went upstairs to let her father slumber. She was about to enter her room until she saw the door across from her room. It was her mother's study. She walked over to the door and stood there for a few minutes thinking was it the day she would enter this old forsaken room. She decided it was. She turned the knob and opened the door. It was exactly how she remembered it. There were the same pictures taped on the book shelves and walls. There were a few books and papers scattered on the floor and desk. As she entered, she saw the old chair she was familiar with banged up on the floor with one of its legs snapped off. She quickly turned her head and continued to enter the room. She noticed how dark it was and wanted to turn on the switch but when she did, the light was burned out. So she opened the curtains. When she opened the them, the dust from the fabric made her cough. She saw how dusty the whole room was. She assumed she should have expected this after seven long years of neglect. She wheezed some of the dust and coughed a little.

"This is unbearable…" Mary coughed. "I better open a window."

She unlocked the window, opened it as a draft of wind entered the room. The draft lifted a photograph fly off the desk. Mary saw the picture fly and land on the ground exposing the image. Mary picked up the picture and became surprised to see it was a picture of an alien. This alien had lime-green skin, Magenta-red bugged eyes, two long black antennas on the top of its head and a small slender body. The alien was sitting on a chair and looked not too happy. Mary studied the picture and realized this wasn't the picture of the same alien she saw at the park but of a different one of the same species. Then she flipped the picture over. There was a date written of 06/2024.

"This must have been the alien my mother saw at that Convention." Mary said studying the photo and felt something very familiar about the alien in the photo.

'I can't put my finger on it but somehow, I think I know this alien, which is strange because I only met one alien…' Mary thought. 'Maybe it will come back to me. I should keep it just in case.'

Mary placed the picture in her pocket. Then closed the window and yawned.

"I should really get started on my homework." Mary said as she tied the curtains back in place leaving the study.


	26. Separation Anxiety

Author's note: Yellow, Red, Green, Blue, I wrote another chapter for you!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 26: Separation Anxiety

Monday morning, what a horrible feeling to return to skool Zim thought as entered skool's grounds. He walked up to the Skool's door, sighed and entered the building. He walked through the hallways with his head lowered in shame. He felt down with his decision to hide his identity. He walked around noticing his human class mates running around the hallways, laughing, hanging out with their friends. He stood in the hallway watching the marvelous interaction among the humans. He never felt more alone. The bell rang and Zim walked into Mr. Holic's classroom.

"You're late." Mrs. Looker told him.

"Sorry…" Zim muttered then walked to his desk. There he saw Dib sitting at his desk. Dib glanced at him, and then quickly looked away. Zim knew he was mad and sat down. Their substitute gave them an assignment to do that need to be completed by the end of the period. Zim and Dib quietly worked on their assignment without saying a word. They didn't talk to each other, not even at Gym class where they were playing basketball on the same team. Their teammates suffered due to their lack of cooperation. After Zim and Dib's team lost, Mr. Millmere called it a day and they were heading out of the gym. Zim was about to leave until Dib went up to him.

"Tired of your stupid self-loathing?" Dib asked him. Zim said nothing and lowered his head. Dib shook his head in disbelief.

"Aw man, screw you." Dib said furiously walking away. Zim sighed then walked to the locker room to get ready for English.

After third period, Zim entered the hallway to go to lunch. He looked around the hallways and noticed a few older looking men dressed in black suits watching the crowd of students. Zim noticed the mens' eye shaped badges pinned to their right pocket of their suits. Zim recognized the badge, and then slipped into a crowd of students blending in to sneak away from them. Zim, without looking, quickly made it to the cafeteria. He saw Brian, Tina and Josh sitting at the usual table but not Gretchen, Dib or Mary. It didn't surprise him that Dib didn't want to sit with him because he was still angry but he wondered where Mary went. Zim looked and saw more eye ball wearing badged men in the cafeteria. Zim quickly sat at his table next to Brian. Zim stared at the men as well as Brian.

"Hey, Josh." Brian said. "What's with those weird looking men? Are they from the government?"

Josh looked at them curiously.

"I don't know. I had seen them around every year ever since I started hi skool. I never questioned this before but now I'm curious. Why are these men here? Are they supposed to be security guards and if they are, why do they come ever so often. This is worth investigating." Josh said thrilled by his curiosity.

"I thought we were going to investigate who been stealing mops out from the janitor?" Tina said.

"We are but both stories are very interesting. I'll tell you what, you do that story and I'll investigate this one. This way we have two great stories to add to our website." Josh reasoned to Tina.

"Okay Dokee, Kitty Cat!" Tina said smiling at him.

"I thought that was your nickname!" Josh protest.

"It was but I'm giving it back to you." Tina told him.

"Ahhh…" Josh sighed while Tina hugged him.

Zim stared at the couple and quickly looked back at the men. He knew exactly who they were. They were Swollen Eyeball agents looking for him. The same alien that went to skool claiming world domination. After that incident, they started showing up at skool. Zim never really thought they were much of a threat because for five years, they never suspected him. He assumed they were a bunch of blind stupid humans that wouldn't know an alien even if it hit them on the head but it doesn't hurt to sneak away from them just to be safe. Zim saw Mary enter the cafeteria. Mary caught Zim's gaze and smiled at him. Zim smiled back then look down at his lunch. Mary spotted a seat open next to Zim.

"Hi, Zim." Mary greeted him happily. "How are you doing?"

"Good." Zim lied. He felt crappy.

"That's good, I guess," Mary said giggling. "Do you have any homework you need help with?"

"No, I don't so there's no need for you to come over." Zim lied again. He really did have two chapters due tomorrow for Calculus.

"Oh…" Mary said sounding disappointed. "Okay!" Mary said peppy like and started eating her lunch. Zim felt horrible that he had to lie to her but he knew it was for her own good. The group ate their lunch and before they knew it, it was time for class. They departed. Zim walked into the hallway heading to his U.S. History class. Zim was about to enter the second building until a Swollen Eyeball agent came up to him. Zim saw the agent and glared at him.

"Yes?" Zim questioned him rudely.

"Hello, how are you doing this fine afternoon?" The agent asked him.

"Okay." Zim answered then walked away.

"Going to class?" The agent asked following Zim.

"Yes," Zim said.

"What do you do after skool?"

"Work." Zim stated.

"Where do you work?" The agent asked. Zim stopped walking and turned around.

"I don't need to answer that, now if excuse me, I have to go to class." Zim said.

"Of course." The agent said nonchalantly. Zim walked away from the agent, he looked over his shoulder. The agent was staring at him. Zim quickly jogged to his next class. When he got to his history class, he took his seat and remained quiet thinking about what happened in the hallway. He never been questioned not like that. It worried him.

'Maybe I should skip skool for a while, just to be safe. They only stay around for a couple of days.' Zim thought ignoring his teacher's question.

"Zim!" Mr. Bernstein screamed at him.

"What?" Zim snapped back.

"Would you like to tell us the cause of the Dust Bowl?"

"Ummm…nobody was cleaning the bowl?" Zim questioned his answer. His teacher shook his head at Zim's stupid answer while his classmates laughed at him.

"No, Zim the Dust Bowl was a great drought that occurred during the Great Depression that affected farmers…." Mr. Bernstein continued to teach. Zim didn't bother to listen. He really didn't care.

The rest of the skool day was like that. His teachers teaching his classmates while he ignored them. He didn't see the point in learning this useless information. He felt sick. During sixth period, he asked his teacher to use the bathroom. She let him go, so he want to bathroom. He stared at the mirror for awhile wondering what was wrong with him.

"Why do I feel so awful, owww…my head…" Zim said holding his head in the area where it ached. "I need to go home…"

Zim left the restroom. As he walked, he saw a few Swollen Eyeball agents staring at him, watching as he passed by them. Zim felt their stares and began to sweat. Each step felt like entirety as he walked keeping his eyes at each agent that stared at him. He kept this up until he felt a sudden thud to his chest. It startled him until he realized that he bumped into someone. It was Mary. She was carrying a bunch of papers. He saw that they flew over the hallway floors.

"Mary." Zim said surprised to see her.

"Zim, I'm sorry I bumped into you." She apologized immediately as she sat upon the floor gathering up the papers. "It was very hard to see anything over the pile."

"No, I should be apologizing," Zim said getting on the floor with Mary helping her gather. "I wasn't watching where I was going. How come you're so clumsy when papers are involved?"

"I don't know." Mary chuckled. Zim shrugged his shoulders and quickly helped her gather the worksheets. Zim saw a piece of paper, reached out for it, and when he laid his hand down, he accidentally laid it upon Mary's. Zim felt her warm hand and looked up at her. When she met Zim's eyes, she blushed and looked away, then back down to Zim's hand. Then she gasped. She suddenly noticed that Zim's hand had only three fingers instead of four. Zim saw her reaction, and quickly removed his hand.

"Zim, your hand it-"

"Well, here are your papers." Zim quickly cut her off trying to draw off the attention of the agents staring at them handing her the worksheets. "I gotta go!"

Zim got up and ran to Mrs. Roster's class leaving Mary behind wondering why his hand was missing a finger. After skool, Zim went to work thinking what had happened today. He still had a headache but it felt like something more than just an illness. He knew that if he went back to skool tomorrow that he would deal with same crap he had to endure today. The same agents staring at him, Dib being mad at him for deciding to hide, and Mary, he would have to come up with another lie to tell her why he's missing fingers.

"I don't want to lie anymore, I hate it when I lie especially to her, hate this, I hate it so much." Zim muttered while stocking the bags of chips. "I need time off to get away from all this especially those stupid Swollen Eyeball Agents. I don't want them to get more suspicious of me!"

"Zim, what are you talking about?" One of his co-workers asked standing a few feet away overhearing Zim's soliloquy. Zim glanced at his and saw he was giving him that weirdo look.

"Nothing, Brett, I like talking to myself." Zim responded.

"Sound like fun. Are you going to turn it into a game?" Brett said smiling at him. Zim gave Brett an awkward stare.

"No…Not really."

"Oh, that doesn't sound like fun." Brett says as he walks away, then he turned around and said. "But, if you ever want to, you can always talk to me."

"Okay, Brett. I'll let you know." Zim told him as Brett left the aisle.

"That was a little creepy…" Zim said as he went back to stocking.

The next day at skool during lunch, Mary went into the cafeteria to find her friends sitting at their table everyone except for Zim and Gretchen. She assumed that Dib and Gretchen was still fighting and didn't want to sit with Dib but she didn't know why Zim was absent. She glanced over at Dib while he was eating from his lunch tray. Her friends were talking about their day.

"Then, Julie reached into her backpack, and pulled out a stuffed bear animal. She claimed it wasn't hers but I knew it had to be. You guys think that's funny?" Josh asked them. Tina and Brian looked at him strangely.

"Not really." Brian answered him honestly. "My sisters sneak their toys in my backpack all the time. See."

Brain picked up his backpack and revealed what his youngest sister, Bree, left him. A clown bear stuffed animal that had red fuzzy hair, white make up on it, and wore a clown suit. Josh stared at the clown.

"The makeup doesn't look like it's part of the design of the bear."

"My sister likes to give her stuffed animals make-overs." Brian admitted putting the bear back in his bag.

"Hey, did anyone see Zim today?" Mary asked her friends. They looked at each other and shook their heads.

"No, didn't see him." Josh said. "Maybe he's sick. Dib, do you know?"

"Yeah, he probably is." Dib answered Josh while staring at the Swollen Eyeball agents questioning some kid that look unusually hairy.

When Mary came home, she went into her room and dropped her backpack on her desk. She went through her notebook then stumbled upon the picture that she found in her mother's study. She stared at the alien in the photo intensely.

"I know this, what does this alien remind me of?" Mary said staring puzzled at the photo. She placed the picture back into her notebook and then she remembered what Zim told her that fateful night.

"Zim…" She spoke his name silently. "Maybe I should call him to see if he's okay."

Mary went through her backpack and retrieved her cell phone; she found Zim's number then called him. She pressed her ear to her phone hearing the dial tone. The dial tone rang a few times until she heard a click.

"Hello?" A voice answered. It was Zim.

"Oh, hi, Zim, this is Mary. I was wondering if you are feeling okay. I didn't see you at skool." Mary said awkwardly.

"Yes, I'm terribly sick." Zim said then coughed into the phone. "I needed to stay home."

"Oh, that's too bad, how long do you think you're going to be out?"

"I don't know, it's a really bad cold."

"Do you need anything because I can come over and-"

"No, no, there is no need for that, I don't need you to come over, I'm very contagious, and I don't want you to get sick."

"Alright, but if you need anything, just let me know, okay?"

"Okay. Bye." Zim said.

"Good Bye." Mary spoke. Zim hung up the phone annoyed by Mary's meddling.

'Man, that girl is persistent, won't leave Zim alone." Zim said walking away.

* * *

'Zim didn't make it to skool again today.' Mary thought as she walked over to the bus stop after she was done volunteering at the orphanage. 'He must be really sick…I wonder if he is tackling that cold well. It must be hard to make him feel better if he's allergic to almost everything…'

"I know," Mary said out loud. "Maybe I should swing by Mart-Wall pick him up some orange juice and bring it over to his house. I know he's not allergic to juice."

Mary nodded with her decision and walked a few blocks to Mart-Wall. Mary entered the store and walked along the aisles to go to the frozen food section to retrieve a carton of OJ. While walking by the T.V. dinner aisle, she saw someone that looked like Zim and walked by, then she walked backwards to the aisle and had another look. It was Zim. He was all the way down the ailse stacking boxes of frozen food in the glass casing. Mary had a good look at him and saw he looked fine. Mary marched down the aisle to face Zim while Zim unaware of Mary coming, continued stacking his boxes.

"Zim," Mary spoke. Zim heard this sweet familiar voice and knew who she was. Zim continued putting boxes on the empty shelves pretending not to hear her. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey Mary…" Zim said finally turning around to see Mary's worried expression.

"What are you doing here?" Mary asked him again. "I thought you were sick."

"I am, see, cough, cough…" Zim said while cupping his hand to his mouth. Mary looked him irritated.

"That has to be the worst fake cough I ever heard." Mary said not impressed. He turned around embarrassed by his fail attempt of fake sickness and began stacking.

"Zim, how come you're not going to skool?" Mary asked.

No response.

"Please, Zim tell me, I wanna know what's wrong?"

Still no answer.

"Zim, I feel like I'm talking to a stubborn brick wall, please talk to me." Mary said wrapping her hands around his arm. Zim suddenly felt her fingers and pulled his arm away. He turned around and snapped.

"It's none of your business, so you're better off butting out!"

Mary looked down at the ground sadden by Zim's screaming, and then looked back at him angry.

"You know Zim, I was honest with you. At least you can be honest with me." Mary said then ran away. Zim, feeling awful that he yelled at her, closed the glass casing and banged his head on the case.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid." Zim muttered every time he banged his head on the case. Then Mr. Happy spotted Zim banging his head against the case.

"Hey, Zim, after you're done trying to knock yourself out, I need you to stack the bread section."

Zim banged his head for the final time.

After work, Zim furiously walked home. Gir and Minimoose was in the living room playing with their rubber pigs when Zim slammed the door open. They both jumped startled by their master's anger.

"Where's that stone!" Zim screamed then marched up the stairs. Gir and Minimoose confused, followed their master. When they went into Zim's room, they saw that Zim was digging through his dresser drawer. They were confused because they didn't know what he was retrieving until they saw it. The most colorful gem they laid their eyes upon. They entered into the room amazed by it's beauty as it turned different colors.

"What's that?" Gir asked.

"It's the Striking Gem. Skoodge gave it to me so I would give it to Mary." Zim filled in his robots. "But I can't, it's too bad. This is a really pretty gem."

Zim placed the gem on the desk, then rummage through his tool box until he found what he needed. A hammer. Zim walked back to the desk and raised his right arm getting ready to smash. Gir screamed stopping Zim from smashing. He looked over at his crying robot.

"Why break such a pretty rock?" Gir cried.

"Because it reminds me of her, the happiness I will never obtained. I was a fool to think that I will ever be accepted by anyone especially her. Now she hates me…"

"She doesn't hate you." Gir said.

"Well, she does now! And you can forget ever seeing her again!" Zim demanded raising the hammer once more. Zim took his aim and smashed his hammer on the desk. To his surprised, he missed. Instead he saw the gem hovering next to Minimoose.

"Give it back!" Zim demanded. "That's an order!"

Minimoose looked at his master then back at the floating brightly color changing stone. Minimoose shook his body. Zim became aggravated by Minimoose's resistance.

"Give it back!" Zim screamed once more but Minimoose shook his body and floated away with the Striking Gem. Zim tried to grab it but Minimoose was too quick for him that Minimoose already gone.

"Fine," Zim screamed standing in the empty hallway. "Do whatever with the Gem. I don't care!"

After hearing his master screamed, Gir entered the hallway where he found him standing his back to Gir's. Gir watched his master stay still and quiet for a while.

"Master?" Gir questioned. The hammer slipped out of Zim's hand and fell next to his foot. Zim fell to his knees. Gir went up to Zim trying to comfort him by rubbing his arm.

"Don't worry Master, Minimoose will give you the pretty stone back, he wants to play with it for a little while." Gir said rubbing his arm. Zim got up, walked to his room, and slammed the door behind him.

"Minimoose, why you have to make Zim upset. Chickens!" Gir shrieked as he saw birds fly by the bathroom's window. Gir ran downstairs leaving Zim alone in his misery.

The next day at Skool, Mary felt awful for yelling at Zim. She thought maybe Zim didn't want to tell her because it was too personal and didn't want to talk about while he was working. Mary thought feeling her guilty conscience grow stronger all the way through the first half of her classes. When she went into the cafeteria, she was hoping that Zim would be there but he wasn't. He didn't show up to skool again. She thought about asking Dib about what might be bothering Zim, but he wasn't at lunch either. Mary sat with her friends secretly wishing she wasn't kept in the dark. After the final bell, Mary left to the skool yard to catch her bus home. She didn't have to volunteer today and she didn't need to tutor Zim…

"Zim…" Mary said. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

When she going to the bus stop, by chance she saw Dib was waiting by the stop. He had his back leaning against a tree, arms crossed tapping his right foot. Mary saw this as her opportunity and walked up to Dib.

"Hi, Dib." Mary said waving hello to him. Dib heard his name, and turned his attention to the short red-head he recognized as Mary, the girl Zim blindly turned his back on.

"Hey, Mary, how's it going?" Dib asked casually.

"Alright. Ummm, I was wondering if you heard anything from Zim lately?"

"No, I haven't. Why?"

"I was just thinking if there was anything that might be bothering him. He hasn't been to skool for days." Mary said looked down at her shoes shyly. Dib stared at the girl annoyed.

"Why don't you ask Zim?"

"I tried yesterday when I saw him working, but he wouldn't open up to me and then I accused him for not being honest with me. I just feel horrible. I tried to apologize by calling him. He never picked up the phone. I'm really worried."

Dib thought about what Mary told him and became concerned as well. He haven't heard from Zim either. The last time he spoke to him was after gym class last Monday and he wasn't proud of it. He wasn't thinking at all. He was angry by Zim's cowardly actions that he never thought that opening to anyone was hard for Zim. Dib felt like a jerk and wanted to punch himself, but he didn't want to do it in front of Mary. Instead, he wanted to undo his mistake and apologize to Zim personally, but then he thought about Gretchen and how long it took him to convince her to go out with him after skool. Dib sighed knowing what had to do.

"I'm worried about him too. How about we over and visit him?" Dib asked her.

"What if he's not there?" Mary asked.

"He's there, he gets Thursdays off." Dib said walking to the bus stop to go home to his neighborhood. Mary followed him.

"He does? Sometimes it's hard to keep track." Mary admitted.

"It is. They need to stop switching his schedule, it's so annoying." Dib said smiling then thought. 'Sorry, Gretchen; this is more important.'

Dib and Mary took the bus to the right neighborhood to check on Zim. They walked through the neighborhood until they came across Zim's house. Dib let himself in by opening the front door.

"Zim," Dib called out with Mary standing next to him. "It's me, I broug-"

Dib stopped talking to see Zim walking from the kitchen into the living room holding an half eaten apple in his hand. Dib saw Zim's big rounded Magenta red eyes stare at his while Zim's long black antennas pointing upward from his head.

"Dib-monster, haven't seen you for a while." Zim spoke then taking another bite from his apple. Zim stared curiously at Dib's strange expression of awkwardness on his face.

"What?" Zim said confused by Dib's reaction. Zim saw that the pupils in Dib's eyes lower down to the girl standing next to him. Mary. Zim stared at Mary for a moment while she did the same. Mary focused her attention on Zim's eyeballs.

'He's an alien?' Mary thought. Then she remember all the hidden clues that Zim given her. "Human like fuzzy cute animals." "They make aliens look all evil and scary like they are going to eat your flesh. Like an alien would want to eat your disgusting bodies, anyways." "What if I looked different? Would you still hang out with me?" After over thinking Zim's words she opened her mouth and uttered one word.

"Oh..."

Zim recovered from the shock and screamed.

"What is she doing here?"

"I brought her so you would stop moping and return to skool!" Dib shouted at Zim.

"This is bad! This is bad!" Zim shouted frantically as he ran upstairs. They heard him slam the door. Dib looked over at Mary and said.

"Yep, he's an alien. Shocker, right?"

Mary nodded then it hit her. She grabbed her backpack off her shoulders and began rummaging through it. Dib was confused by her actions.

"What are you doing?" Dib said then looked at her terrified. "Don't tell me you're going to probe him?"

Mary ignored Dib's stupid question and pulled out the picture her mother took of Zim years ago. Dib looked over her shoulder and saw the photo.

"Where did you get that?" Dib asked.

"I'll explain later." Mary said as she ran upstairs. She looked around the hallway and noticed that Zim's door was shut. Mary turned the knob. It was locked. She knocked on the door a few times hoping for an answer. There wasn't but she knew he was in there. She slightly laid the picture face down under Zim's door and said.

"Zim, is this you?" Mary watched the photo and saw he took it.

"Where did you get this picture?" Zim asked talking through the door.

"I found it in my mother's study. That was the first time I was able to go into that room in years. It's because of you, you gave me the courage to face my fears."

"But, I'm the one whom started them. Your mother saw me, disowned you and started hunting aliens like me."

Mary was perplexed by Zim's statement then figured out why Zim was so upset about her knowing his secret. He thought he ruined her life.

"Look, I never blamed the little alien in that photo, I never blamed anyone and that was my biggest mistake. She ran away, she just ran away from anything that was unpleasant that she didn't want to deal with, but I don't ever want to be like that. I don't ever want to run away from the people I care about. I will never run away from you no matter what you look like, what planet you came from or what kind of animal you like to eat, I'll just look the other away. What I'm trying to say is that I want to be with you!" Mary shouted hoping Zim was considering what she was pouring out of her heart.

"Aren't you confused?" Zim managed to ask.

"Yes, very, but I want to know why and I'm sorry about yesterday. just please open the door..." Mary trailed off. Zim heard her plead and unlocked the door. Mary heard a click. She stood there silently expecting Zim to open it but didn't.

"You can come in." Zim said. Zim's sentence startled Mary then grabbed the knob and turned it.

"Okay, I'm coming in." Mary warned him. She opened the door and saw she didn't see him anywhere. Mary scratched her head, then closed the door. Just then Zim jumped in front of her from where he was hiding. Behind the door. Mary became startled by Zim that she laid flat against the door as Zim slammed him hands upon it around Mary's body blocking anyway from her escaping. Zim bowed his head eye leveled with Mary's. Mary looked into Zim's huge magenta-red eyes as he glared into hers. Mary smiled at him. Zim looked confused at the girl.

"So, you don't hate me?" Zim asked her. Mary suddenly wrapped her arms around Zim and said.

"How can I hate the one who brought so much happiness in my life?"

Zim felt her embaced. He lifted his arms from his door and laid them to his sides. Mary held Zim for a while. She rested her head on his chest until she felt a wet drop hit her cheek. She looked up astonished.

"Zim, are you crying?"

"No..." Zim mumbled looking up hiding his eyes with his right arm. "Just the dang roof's leaking."

"Oh, Zim," Mary chuckled. "Please don't lie to me."

"I don't ever want to anymore."


	27. Unidentified Fatal Attraction

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 27: Unidentified Fatal Attraction

Zim stood still while Mary held him. He never felt more accepted. Zim felt Mary wanting to let go him and backed away.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"It's fine," She said smiling. "I totally understand. What are you going to say? Hi, my name is Zim and I'm from the planet…Hey, what planet are you from anyways?"

"Irk." Zim answered. "I'm Irken."

"You're Irken." Mary said sweetly. She took noticeable glances at Zim's current form and laughed.

"What?" Zim asked looking down at his shirt.

"When I look at you without your disguise, you look fine but with it, you look so out of place." Mary said then continued to laugh. Dib heard laughter coming from upstairs and assumed that everything worked out well. Dib sighed and decided it was time for him to leave. He was about to open the front door until he saw a black car pull up in front of Zim's house. Dib stared at the car curiously. One short and another tall man in black suits wearing the eye ball badges appear from the vehicle.

"Oh, no!" Dib exclaimed. Dib ran upstairs and busted into Zim's room startling them.

"Zim, the Eyeballs are here!" Dib shouted.

"What?" Zim said startled by this information. He went to his bedroom window and saw the men inspecting his yard. He quickly backed away. "What do they want?"

"I don't know? What should we do?" Dib asked him frantically.

"Who are the Eyeballs?" Mary asked confused by their alarmed behavior.

"An organization that pledges to find aliens like Zim." Dib summed up. "They look like they might come to your door any minute."

"Dib," Zim commanded his attention. "Stall them, I have an idea."

Zim grabbed his wig off his desk. Dib nodded and ran back downstairs. Zim put his wig on and ran into the bathroom placing the contacts into his eyes.

"What's your idea?" Mary asked peering into the bathroom.

"Well, since I've been telling the skool I was sick, I figure I play the part."

"Is there anything I can do?" Mary asked.

"Do what you're doing, now. Be the concerned friend checking in on my illness. The Eyeballs won't expect an alien to have a human taking care of him." Zim told her. Mary stared at Zim awkwardly hearing of this same plot.

"You never watch E.T., have you?" Mary asked.

"What's an E.T.?" Zim asked her thrown off by her strange question.

"I have a better idea," Mary offered. "What if we can convince the Eyeballs that you have the chicken pox, that way they can't get near you."

"And how are we gonna do that?" Zim asked. Mary pulled a tube of lipstick out of her pocket. She took the cap off and rolled the tube to expose the color; cranberry red.

"I didn't know you wore lipstick." Zim said surprised.

"I don't, Tina been trying to put make-up on me all week but you would have known that if you went to skool." Mary said irritated.

"Okay, but do I have to wear that? That stuff smears." Zim stated his detest. Mary looked at him strangely. Zim noticing her awkward stare from his outburst, became embarrassed.

"I'm going to choose to ignore that." Mary stated.

"Please, do." Zim encouraged then held out his hand awaiting Mary to give him the lipstick.

Dib stood at the front door watching the men inspected Zim's yard from the window. Then he heard his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and saw it was Zim's number. Dib opened his phone and answered it.

"If you want to talk to me, you can run downstairs you lazy-"

"No time," Mary interrupted. "This is our plan. We are going to pretend that Zim is sick so try to stall them as much as possible while he gets ready, okay?"

"Got it. It doesn't seem like doing anything but staring at the, oh wait, they are coming to the door. Gotta go." Dib said ending the call. Dib put his phone back into his pocket. The door bell rang. Dib stood at the door as the men continue to ring the door bell three more times.

"I'm coming." Dib shouted then opened the door.

"Hello, there." Dib greeted them politely.

"Hi, we are here to see Zim. Is he here?" The taller, slender Agent asked while the shorter agent examine Zim's door.

"And who are you to Zim?" Dib asked. "You are definitely not his family because I would know. He's my brother."

"We are from the government sent from the skool to inspect Zim's absences." Agent Tall said.

"He's sick," Dib said. "He doesn't need to be 'inspected'. He'll be back in a couple of days."

Dib was getting ready to close the door until Agent Small grabbed the knob.

"But, it's important to see him." Agent Small said holding the door. "We have to make sure that's he's really sick and not faking."

"I don't need to let you in," Dib said yanking the door away from the agent's grip. "Unless you have a search warrant, but until then, we'll talk."

"We do." Agent Tall said showing Dib the slip of paper. Dib looked up at them perplexed asking. "Why do you need a search warrant to check on someone sick?"

"It's required." The agent vaguely answered.

"Oh, well," Dib said having no choice but to let them in. "Let me lead you to his room."

Dib opened the door letting the agents enter his house. Dib watched the men as he went upstairs.

'Sorry, Zim, I hope I bought you enough time…' Dib thought. Dib turned around and saw the men were not following him but looking through Zim's bookshelf. He only took his eyes off them for a second and they were already searching through his stuff.

"Zim's room is this way!" Dib shouted rudely at the agents. The men stopped what they were doing and followed Dib upstairs to Zim's door. Dib knocked on the door. Mary opened the door to see Dib and the agents.

"Oh, hello, Dib. Who are those people?" Mary said pointing at them.

"We are from the skool checking on Zim to see if he's really sick." Agent Small said.

"Oh, he's sick alright. He has the chicken pox." Mary informed them. "I'm sure that if you never had this illness before, I would back away. He's very contagious."

"Why are you with him?" Agent Small asked.

"Because I had them before." Mary said. "You can only have them once."

"We both have strong immunity and already had the chicken pox so it shouldn't be a problem, right?" Agent Tall asked.

"I guess not." Mary said defeated then opened Zim's door letting them in his room. They saw Zim lying on his bed wrapped in a blanket. In closer examination, they saw Zim's face covered in little red dots. Zim coughed and closed his eyes pretending to sleep. Zim listened carefully to what the agents had to say.

"Hmmm…Take a note." Agent Tall said to the other. "The subject doesn't appear to have any ears or a nose and his skin is as green as it gets."

Mary and Dib became worried by their observation of Zim and so was Zim. Zim opened his eyes and glanced at Mary scared. Mary glared at the agents taking their notes, clenched her fist and nodded knowing what she had to do.

"Hey," Mary shouted at them. "What are you doing?"

"I hate to inform you, but this boy could be an alien from outer space."

"An alien from outer space?" Mary shouted acting surprised. "Who the hell do you think you are calling my man an alien from outer space?"

"But look at him." Agent Small said pointing out his appearance.

"Look at what? All I see is this poor boy sick out of his mind and you accuse him of being an alien?"

"Yes, he obviously-"

"What? That he looks different than you, of course he looks different. You just don't go around persecuting other people for their differences. Why, I never seen such rude behaviors come out of any authority figure like you!" Mary screamed making them feel very uncomfortable. They backed away towards Zim's door. "Good grief, what would your mothers think of you guys persecuting people's flaws?"

"Very bad," Agent Small said.

"Yes, very bad. If I was your mother, I would-"

"Please," Agent Tall said frightened. "There's no need for that, we are going. I see that Zim is sick so there will be no more further investigation."

"There better not be. I have the right mind to report you to the skool, now get out of my boyfriend's house!" Mary shrieked. The agents nodded and they heard them run downstairs. Zim and Dib went into the hallway and saw the men leave his house from the stairway. They heard their car start up and drove away. Dib and Zim stared at Mary stunned.

"How did you know what to do?" Dib asked.

"Easy," Mary said grinning. "Nobody likes a hysterical woman."

Zim and Dib burst up laughing while Mary joined them.

"Mary, you're amazing!" Zim said laughing to the bathroom to remove the lipstick spots off his face and arms.

"So, Mary, are you still surprised that Zim's an alien?" Dib asked.

"No, not anymore, in fact, I think he looks a lot weirder when he pretends to be human."

"Yeah," Dib agreed. "Zim disguise is so lame. I was able to pick him out from day one!"

"Day one? You knew all along?" Mary said surprised.

"Well, I was a Paranormal Investigator back then when he landed here seven years ago." Dib said proudly.

"Maybe it is better that I explain things to her." Zim said entering the hallway. Then he turned his head to Dib. "Alone."

"Gotcha'" Dib said understanding what he meant. "Okay, see ya later." Dib left downstairs and out the front door. Zim watch him as he left and shook his head while he went to his room. Mary didn't say a word as she watched him remove his wig and contacts. His antennas bounced back in place while his eyes adjusted to the light. Zim sat upon his bed and saw Mary standing shyly in Zim's doorway.

"So…I'm your boyfriend?" Zim smirked at her. He saw her face brighten up.

"I was pretending to be to…" Mary trailed off.

"I know you were, the way you shouted at them was quite impressive, and well, have a seat." Zim offered. "You probably have a lot of questions to ask me, but I'm going to guess you probably want to know why I'm here, correct?"

"Uh-huh," said while she nodded. Mary closed Zim's door and sat beside him.

"It all began on my home planet, Irk. We were getting ready for Operation Impeding Doom 2. It's a plan that all the invaders of my race go across the universe conquering planets."

"Are you planning to conquer Earth?" Mary said shocked standing up.

"No, no," Zim ensured her. Mary sat back down. "Not anymore, you see, I was never an Invader to begin with. I ruined Operation Impending Doom 1, which the Tallests, my leaders at the time, gave me a second chance to redeem myself. So I took the challenge of taking over Earth. I was given a S.I.R. robot that named itself, Gir."

"Gir," Mary said his name. "So you didn't make him?"

"No, but I did make Minimoose, but I haven't figured out why he's psychic. It might have something to do with that doomsday device that exploded in him."

"Minimoose is a weapon!" Mary shouted. Zim shook his head.

"No, I disarmed him years ago, so he's just a floating moose, no need to be alarmed. He's not going to explode." Zim said calming her down. Mary sighed in relief.

"So did you fail your mission since you're not taking over Earth?" Mary asked. Zim sighed as well.

"The truth is that I was never given the mission. I realized this six years ago when my leaders came to Earth. I thought they were coming for the Invasion, but they were not. They came across the galaxy to permanently banish me to this planet."

"Why," Mary asked sadly.

"Because they saw me as a pest, a failure, a screw up; I had an awful habit of wrecking things that annoyed everyone. So the Tallests came up with an idea to finally get rid of me. They told me everything that my mission was a fake and I will be banished here for the rest of my life. To prove that I wouldn't be a threat to them anymore, they put on a show of torturing me by messing with my Pak."

"Your Pak?"

"My Pak was a medical life support system kept on my back that kept me and my memories alive and safe."

"So how did they mess with your Pak?"

"Through electrocution." Zim said gravely.

"Electrocution?"

"Yes, exactly how it sounds. They downloaded a virus into my Pak so I would feel a severe electric shock enter my body randomly without warning. This part makes me sick the most," Zim said then paused for a moment.

"The leaders I once admired used me as a play thing as they had the remote controlling the intensity of the shock. It felt like they tortured me for hours and when they were done, they finally banished me. They took my ship, most of my weapons, and experiments, almost everything except for Gir, Minimoose and my base. This house that helped me conquer Earth became my home. That night terror you witness is the result of my suffering. Sometimes when I sleep I can still feel the electric currents travel through my body. Would you like to see the scars?" Zim said smiling awkwardly.

"Ummm…No thanks I believe you." Mary said. "Are you wearing the Pak right now?"

"No, I got rid of it, but it wasn't an easy task, you see. I had help from Dib. At the time, he and I were the worst of enemies. I would try to conquer Earth, he would try to stop me, yada, yada, the whole scenario until we made a truths and he and Professor Membrane helped me remove the Pak through a special kind of surgery. I managed to survive, obviously, but I lost a few of my abilities in the process. I don't remember how to fly a ship or manage Irken machinery at that matter. It's all a blank spot in my mind that can't be filled. I try, but failed. It can't be helped. So my inventions on my floor are the attempts of me relearning." Zim said staring down at the piles of wasted machines and parts.

"At least you're trying." Mary said.

"Yeah, too bad I haven't succeeded." Zim managed a chuckle.

"About the Impending Doom thing," Mary said. "Are your people going to take over this planet?"

"No, they are using this as a prison to banish other Irkens like me due to the horrible conditions I endured, explained in my report."

"So we're safe, then?" Mary asked.

"Yep, unless they want to take me back, which I doubt that will happen. They really hate me."

"Oh…" Mary said looking away. Zim saw she looked a little distracted by his recent information.

"This must be a lot to take in." Zim stated. Mary looked up at him and nodded.

"Yes, it is." She said.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner."

"Why didn't you?" Mary asked concerned.

"I was afraid that I would lose…" Zim muttered but Mary couldn't hear him.

"Lose what?"

"You," Zim said looking back at her. "I was afraid I was going to scare you away and wouldn't want to hang out with me, Gir or Minimoose anymore."

"Is that why you were absent…because of me?"

"No, that wasn't the reason. Those Swollen Eyeball people were suspicious of me. I needed to stay low for a while so I wouldn't be captured, but I guess that backfired."

"Zim, I want you to know that you can trust me. I won't utter a single word to anyone about you. Not even to Josh, Tina or Brian."

"Someday I would like to tell those guys. It's a shame that you had to find out this way."

"Not really, actually it's kind of funny." Mary said smiling.

"I guess it is if you look back at it." Zim chuckled then smiled at her. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For accepting me for who I am." Zim told her.

"I could never be afraid of you."

"Why is that?"

"Because you're not scary."

"Well, there goes my next Halloween costume idea…" Zim said disappointed. Mary laughed at his bizarre statement.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, Mary-Moo-Cow, what's on your mind?" Zim said lying on his bed.

"Do you miss your home planet?"

"Sometimes, but I like it here a lot better."

"You do?" Mary said surprised.

"Yeah, it's more laid-back and carefree compared to where I grew up. It's a lot easier besides, I wasn't liked there. On this planet, they can't get enough of Zim." He said proudly closing his eyes.

"That's good. So the skin condition is all made up?"

"Yep, my skin is naturally green and I have no ears. My antennas serve as my sense of hearing." Zim said smoothing his antennas with his right hand. Mary watched them pop right back up. Mary looked at them intrigued.

"Can I touch them?"

"Touch what?" Zim said suddenly sitting up.

"Your antennas."

"My antennas? Why?"

"Out of curiosity, I want to know what they feel like."

"You want to know what they feel like." Zim repeated Mary's question while rubbing his right antenna. Mary nodded.

"Okay, only if I can touch something of you in return." Zim offered the trade.

"W-what do you want to touch?" Mary stuttered as she asked getting embarrassed.

"Your hair."

"My hair?" Mary said shocked.

"Yes, I always wondered what human hair felt like. My wig feels all dry and crunchy and I doubt what it feels like. I never dare touch Dib or Gaz's hair because they would smack me for it."

"Okay." Mary agreed. "You can touch my hair but don't pull on it."

"Sure, as long as you don't pull out my antennas out. You go first." Zim said bowing his head. Zim awaited Mary to touch his antennas. Zim felt the gentle touch of her soft fingers move slowly from his head to the tip. Zim heard something beat. Zim was wondering what he was hearing and realized it was Mary's heart beat transmitted through her fingertips. Zim heard her heartbeat pound quickly. She sounded excited. Zim was pleased be this. After Mary took her hand away, Zim lifted his head up.

"What did you think of them?"

"I never felt anything like it. They are very unique."

"I guess it's my turn." Zim said reaching his hand over Mary's head. Then he stopped.

"What's wrong?" Mary asked. Zim retracted his hand and removed his glove.

"I can't feel anything with my glove on." Zim said putting his right glove in his pocket. Mary nodded and Zim, once more, reached his hand on top of Mary's head. He ran his fingers through her hair feeling the sensation of her curly red locks between his fingers. It felt exactly how he imagined them; soft, fluffy and sleek. Zim touched the back of her ear as he ran his fingers through her last lock. Mary felt his fingers touch her ear. She blushed and lowered her head. Zim, noticing her embarrassment, smiled and moved his fingers to her cheek resting his palm upon her chin. Zim held her face gently as he lifted her slightly reaching eye level with his.

"Why do you look down? Are you embarrassed?" Zim asked her sweetly.

"I-I-"Mary stumbled until she found the right words. "You were only supposed to touch my hair."

"Is that why?" Zim asked firmly holding her warm cheek against his fingers. "I can't help it, you just look so-"

There was a knock at the door. Distracted by the knocking, Zim and Mary turned their heads wondering who it was. Zim removed his hand from her cheek and stood up. The knocking continued.

"Hello?" Zim said. After Zim spoke, the door swung open. It was Dib. Dib smirked at Zim while Zim was confused by his expression.

"Here it is!" Dib said proudly holding money in his right hand. "Fifty dollars, where's my ray gun?"

"Where did you get fifty dollars?" Zim asked ignoring Dib's question.

"Dad's back and I received my allowance. Oh, and he wants to see you too, but first, gimme." Dib said holding out his left hand.

"Alright, alright," Zim said annoyed. "You'll get your gun but first I want to see if you can handle it."

"Gun?" Mary asked Zim.

"It's a long story." Zim simply stated as he dug around his dresser drawer retrieving the ray gun. Mary stared curiously at it as Zim walked over to Dib.

"I want to see you fire this thing without making any mistakes. Only when I feel you are ready to handle the power I will give you this gun."

"Yes, Great Alien Kun-Fu Master!" Dib said bowing his head.

"I'm being serious." Zim said annoyed. "Quit fooling around, you want the gun or not?"

"I do, I do!" Dib said.

"Come on," Zim said walking to his doorway, and then he stopped and turned around seeing Mary still sitting on his bed. "Do you want to come?"

"It sounds dangerous." Mary said. "I'll stay inside."

"Good call, we'll be back in a minute." Zim said walking downstairs with Dib.

'Mary,' Zim thought. 'I'm sorry I have to leave you alone just when I was about to…'

"You better not mess this up!" Zim snapped angrily at Dib.

"I won't, trust me." Dib said fully confident of his skills. They walked into the kitchen towards the back door. Zim handed him the gun.

"You go outside and fire. I'm staying inside. This is your final test." Zim told him. Dib nodded and turned the knob. He entered the yard and approached the table. Zim watched Dib closely through the back door's window. Beside the leg of the table, he saw a can and placed it on the glass' surface. Dib walked to the other side of the yard. He turned around and firmly held the ray gun with both hands as he took his aim. He required his target and pressed his index finger on the trigger. He held the trigger shortly within a few seconds, then let go. The beam of light hit the can point blank bouncing it off the table. Zim ran out of the house to examine the damage. The can was easily split in two from the impact. Zim was impressed by the shot.

"Nice shot!" Zim peeped.

"Yeah, that was a pretty good shot, huh?" Dib gloated.

"Definitely," Zim agreed. "Congratulations. The gun is yours, but first where's my money?"

"Here you go." Dib said taking the fifty dollar bill out of his pocket giving it to Zim. Zim smiled and placed it in his pocket. Dib looked around the gun handle. "Zim, where's the safety on this thing?"

"It's on the bottom of the handle. You should be able to click it to safety."

"Okay," Dib said switching the gun to safety then stuck it in his cloak's inner pocket. They heard a loud commotion as they enter into the house. It was Gir screaming manically.

"I'm home, I'm home!" Gir screamed. "And Minimoose too. We back from hunting down rats in the sewers."

Gir screamed running to the kitchen to greet Zim while Minimoose floated on the couch turning on the T.V. to watch his soaps. Gir stopped screaming when he realized that Zim wasn't wearing his wig and contacts. He was Irken in plain sight.

"Master, you naked! I'm proud of you." Gir squeaked delighted.

"I'm not naked and why would you be proud if I was?" Zim shouted at the deranged robot. Gir shook his head and smiled.

"Zim,"

Zim, Dib and Gir looked up to where the voice was coming from. It was Mary standing at the top of stairway holding Slippers in her hands.

"Mary?" Zim questioned her. Mary ran downstairs suddenly and lifted Slippers to Zim's face.

"Does Slippers know you're an alien too?" Mary asked him. Zim stared at the scruffy little thing. Slippers stared back at Zim and then turned his head away.

"I don't think he's smart enough to care." Zim told her.

"Don't say that." Mary protested then held Slippers close to her petting him. "He didn't mean it, Slippers. You're a smart bunny."

"He must be smart enough if he's getting all the pets." Dib cleverly remarked elbowing Zim.

"That's enough out of you!" Zim commanded.

"I didn't say anything else!" Dib defended himself.

"Mary, you know Zim's naked?" Gir asked her. She quickly looked at Zim and blushed.

"He's not naked." Mary said.

"He means you know I'm an alien." Zim added clarity to Gir's strange question.

"Yes, I do." Mary told him. When Gir heard her answer, he screamed loudly in joy.

"Yaaaaaaaaayyyyy! Everyone looks so happy!" Gir screamed. "Look Minimoose."

"Nya," Minimoose squeaked answering Gir. Zim saw Minimoose on the couch, then remember what he had to do.

"Aw, yeah," Zim said. He walked up to Minimoose. He sat down next to him. Minimoose kept staring at the T.V. ignoring his presence. Zim poked Minimoose's antler to get his attention. Zim glanced at Dib and Mary questioning the intelligence of the bunny. Zim kept on poking Minimoose.

"Nya!" Minimoose squeaked annoyed by Zim's poke.

"Minimoose, may I please have the Gem back?" Zim asked him. "I promise I won't destroy it."

Minimoose shook his head.

"Pretty please, I want to give it to Mary. It's very important that I do. I know she'll keep it safe." Zim said looking at back at Mary talking to Dib while he was showing off his ray gun. Minimoose stared at Mary who refused to look at Dib's gun, then back at Zim who was staring at her. His gaze looked so gentle and happy. Minimoose decided at that point and floated off to the bookcase where he was hiding it. He hid it in the smallest lower corner in the back of the case. Minimoose quickly floated the Gem into Zim's hands. Zim felt it and clutched it in his fist.

"Thanks, Minimoose." Zim said then stood up hiding the Striking Gem in his hand.

"Put that away!" Mary told Dib. "You gonna shoot someone."

"No, I won't." Dib said. "It's on safety. It's fine."

"Dib, put that away." Zim said entering the conversation. "Mary, I have a surprise for you."

"More surprises!" Mary said shocked by more to come after what has happened.

"Yes and lots more to come!" Zim chuckled to her. "But, this one is pleasant."

Zim walked up to her while Dib stared at Zim wondering what his surprise was.

"Alright, what's the surprise?" Mary asked.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hand." Zim said. Mary listens to his words, shut her eyes and held out her right hand. Zim opened his hand and revealed the Striking Gem. Dib admired the Gem's glow in wonder as it changed colors.

"Zim where did you-"

"Shhh…" Zim hushed Dib and placed the Gem in Mary's hand then rolled her fingers over Gem until she held it shut.

"Open your eyes and hand. There lays your surprise."

Mary opened her eyes, then her hand and there laid the Striking Gem. It was so bright when it changed colors from green, blue to purple, red, sea-green, violet, white and yellow. Mary was so profound by its beauty that it took her breath away.

"Zim, it's so beautiful!" Mary shouted amazed.

"It's called the Striking Gem; the alien you tried to rescue wanted to give this to you."

"You mean, you knew I tried to rescue him?"

"Of course, I was the one who freed him that night. His name is Skoodge; I grew up with him back on my home planet. He was in a jam so Dib and I took it upon ourselves and let him have the spaceship that was sitting in Dib's garage. He really wanted to give this to you but he had to go, so I told him that I would do it in his place."

"So you rescued him?" Mary asked.

"Yes, I did." Zim said proudly.

"Then why is he giving this to me? I tried to rescue him but I failed." Mary said sadly.

"I asked him the same question and he said because you are more worthy to know the secrets of the universe. You stood up to his mistreatment and he was grateful you did."

"I'm not worthy of this Gem." Mary said looking sadly down at it. "My mother was the one that inflicted that pain on him. He should have not given it to me."

"Don't say that." Zim said. "You can't be blamed for what your mother did and you shouldn't be suffering from it either. Mary, I know what your mother did to you hurts, I knew that same feeling when I was abandoned, but don't you see, if you let people like her consume your happiness then all you are left with is sadness and I don't want to see you sad. So please, accept the Gem."

Mary looked up at him astonished by his words and held the Gem tighter.

"Thank you…" Mary said.

"You shouldn't be thanking me; it's Skoodge you should be thanking. I just held it." Zim pointed out blankly.

"Well then, thanks for holding it." Mary corrected her statement.

"You're welcome." Zim said.

"Is there any way I could contact him?" Mary asked but Zim shook his head.

"No, I'm afraid not, I have lost any connection to my planet years ago. They took that technology from me."

"Oh," Mary said disappointed.

"But, maybe someday he would come by to visit, and then you can thank him properly."

"Yes, let's just pray my mom won't be in town." Mary joked.

"Heh, heh, heh, yeah, she's crazy." Zim giggled to her then glanced at Dib who looked stunned.

"Zim, you were being…Wise?" Dib manage to speak from his shock. Zim thought about Dib's strange comment then became shocked by it as well.

"Whoa, I wasn't expecting that. Spooky, huh? Did I creep you out with my amazing brain?"

"No, you did not." Dib denied. "Come on, you have to come over to my house. Dad wants to speak to you."

"What? Why?" Zim asked.

"Well, let's see here." Dib said searching his memory of Zim's sins. "You skipped skool for three days, lied about being sick and I bet the skool called him about it."

"I must be in so much trouble."

"I guess, but I'm not sure. He didn't say why he wanted to talk to you. He told me just to bring you over."

"Okay, might as well explain things." Zim accepted his duty.

"Good idea." Dib concurred.

"Mary, we have to go. We should put Slippers away and head out. I could walk you to the bus stop if you like."

"I would like that." Mary said.

"Okay, let me get ready." Zim said walking upstairs. Mary found Slippers hopping around Zim's couch and scooped him up from the floor. She went up to Zim's room and put Slippers away. She checked his food bowl and water. She saw they were both full. It appears Zim was taking good care of him. On his desk, Mary found her picture of Zim. She picked it up and stared at the little alien for a while.

"That's a pretty good picture your mother took." Mary turned around and saw it was Zim. He had his wig and contacts on. "She must have taken it quickly before I noticed. I didn't think anyone was taking pictures."

"Yeah, it is, would you like to have it?"

"Nah," Zim declined. "You can keep it as a reminder on how awesome I am."

"Awesome, huh?" Mary smirked at him. "What kind of alien gets their picture taken without noticing?"

"Plenty, do you see how many pictures of UFOs humans taken? It's a common mistake." Zim said nodding to his explanation.

"Right…Okay, Zim." Mary chuckled then went downstairs to her backpack getting ready to put the photo away. Dib spied the picture and looked over Mary's shoulder.

"I was meaning to ask, where did you get that picture?" Dib said. Mary noticed Dib was interested in the photo and handed it to him. He studied the picture.

"My mother took it at an UFO convention years ago. Apparently the alien my mother and her friends captured was Zim. Pretty funny, huh?" Mary said sitting on the couch.

"Well, this is all a strange coincidence." Dib stated handing back the photo.

"Indeed." Mary said taking the photo and put it in her binder. "And yet, I'm glad it turned out that way."

Zim walked downstairs after changing into a different set of clothes and spotted Mary and Dib sitting on the couch gazing at the Striking Gem.

"This stone is so beautiful. I could stare at it all day." Mary commented.

"If you do," Zim said. "It will make you sleepy."

"Is that a side effect?" Mary said alarmed.

"No, just sometimes when I find myself staring into the stone, it kind of makes me sleepy."

"I see how that can happen." Mary said looking at the Gem. "It reminds me of a night light, was it used that way?"

"I don't know. It wasn't originally from my planet. Skoodge found it on the planet Sarafeena so I have no clue. Well, we better get going. Gir, Minimoose, we're heading out. I'll be back in a little while so you guys better behave."

"Okay Dokey," Gir peeped. "Me and Minimoose are going to play nice with Slippers. He's our bestest friend. He makes funny sounds."

"Alright, but be careful with him, I mean it." Zim warned them, but they ran upstairs before they heard his warning.

Zim, Dib and Mary exit his house. Dib walked ahead while Zim and Mary found themselves walking together side by side. Mary was watching the Striking Gem change colors in her palm while Zim was watching over her shoulder. Mary felt Zim's stare and turned her head slightly looking up at him. Zim turned his head away from her. Mary blushed then placed the Gem in her pocket.

"Zim, I was wondering." Mary said.

"Yes?"

"How was my mother like at that convention years ago?" She asked. Zim thought for a moment searching in his memory of that incident, and then remembered.

"As far as I can recall she was like the others; staring at me impressed by every action I took even to scratch my ass, they were ooohhhing and awwwing. Oh, yeah, when I was escaping on my ship, your mom managed to climb on screaming at me, 'Take me with you, take me with you!'" Zim said imitating her voice. Mary covered her face with her hands.

"Awwww, that's so embarrassing…" Mary said feeling ashamed.

"She startled me so bad that I smacked her off my ship and she landed in a nearby lake." Zim continued on.

"You slapped my mother?" Mary shouted loudly getting Dib's attention. Dib heard the odd statement, turned around and saw them both smiling.

"Yeah, I suppose I did." Zim said pleased.

"Zim, you have no idea how happy that makes me feel." Mary said admiring him. "Can I hug you?"

"You don't need to ask, Mary, you can hug me anytime you like." Zim said reaching his arms out for her. Mary wrapped her arms around him as he did the same.

"Wow, Zim, everyone's seems to be praising you for beating up their loved ones." Dib said amazed.

"I know I should make a business of it. Wait, I think that's already a business. Does the mob do that?" Zim asked. Dib shrugged his shoulders not knowing much about mafias and continued to walk. Zim gave Mary one big squeeze, then let go. They continued to walk until they reached the bus stop fifteen minutes later. When they arrived, Dib looked at his watch.

"It should be here in about two minutes." Dib said remembering the bus schedule.

"Good, you don't have to wait here long." Zim told her. She nodded then went through her backpack trying to find her bus pass. Zim watched her search remembering the words she spoke to him through his door. Mary retrieved her pass and saw that the bus was coming. Zim saw this as his chance to ask.

"Mary," Zim said. "Earlier, you said I gave you courage. How did I do that?"

Mary recalled her earlier speech then told him.

"By letting me free my sorrow."

They stared at each other intensely understanding each other's hardships while Dib stood there out of the loop.

"Will I see you tomorrow?"

"You can count on it."

"Okay," Mary said smiling. "See you guys later, bye."

The bus pulled up to the stop and let Mary board. Mary sat to the left in the back next to the window. She waved to them. Dib waved back while Zim elbowed Dib in the gut. Then she saw those two arguing. Mary laughed and turned her head forward. Mary looked back on the events that happened today. She never realized how everything could change so easily. She always thought Zim was a normal guy; as normal as any guy could be. Sure, she had her suspicious about him being an alien but never thought she was right. Mary recycled what Zim told her about his past.

'It must have been hard for him to adjust living in this world,' Mary thought. 'Wearing that disguise on a day to day basis hoping not to get caught. He told me that I would be afraid of him, but Zim, I was never afraid, not even the first time I looked into your true eyes. Which now I wonder why? Why wasn't I afraid? Was because I didn't recognize who he was until I heard his voice? Was I already immune to any strange situation like that because I been around it all my life or is it something deeper…'

Mary pondered until she saw her neighborhood coming up. She quickly pulled the cord and got off the bus slowly thinking of a solution to her unusual acceptance of Zim's alien secret. She took a few steps towards her neighborhood then stopped.

'No, those aren't my reasons.' Mary thought then continued walking. 'I accepted him because he has always been so nice to me. He let me keep Slippers at his house. He stood up for me when Jessica was picking on me and he even held me when I cried…He never harmed me in anyway. That's why I was never afraid but I wonder why did I call him my boyfriend? Why would those people care that he was my boyfriend anyways? He's not my boyfriend. I don't like him that way…'

Mary stopped then placed her hand where Zim held her cheek.

'Then why did I let him touch my cheek? I could have turned away if I didn't like it, but I was too captivated by the color of his buggy eyes. They look so gentle and warm, so was his hand. All the time he held me, I secretly wish that…he would kiss me.'

Mary blushed then stopped stunned by her feelings towards him.

"Oh my gosh!" Mary shouted. "I'm in love with an alien!"

* * *

Author note: Yep, that's the chapter, this below is a short that is not part of the story but something I would see Zim doing. Enjoy!

It's A Wonderful Short: Zim's Revenge

"Hey, sorry for butting in and ruining your whole love scene, Zim." Dib said to Zim.

"Oh, that." Zim said carefree. "Don't worry about it. I'm totally over it."

"Oh, good, by the way, what are you holding there?" Dib said pointing to the black ball of scurrying insects circling around the palm of Zim's hand.

"Oh, this," Zim pointed to the ball. "Why, this is the thousand years of plague and discomfort! Catch!"

"No, wait!" Dib shouted but it was already too late. Zim threw it at him and the plague landed on his chest. Dib started itching like crazy.

"You jerk! Arghhhhhh! How long is this going to last?"

"Didn't you hear me, Dib-worm. A thousand years, duh!"

"Argghhhh! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," Dib complained and continued scratching at the bugs crawling on him.

'Heh, heh, heh, it will only last a couple of hours, but he doesn't need to know that.' Zim thought snickering.


	28. How The Enemy Became My Friend

Author Note: This is a flashback chapter about how it all began.

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 28: How the Enemy became my Friend

Dib was sitting on the roof while his sister, Gaz, was on the patio playing her Game Slave 2. She looked at her brother listening through his headphones connected to his personal satellite dish trying to pick up on any abnormal signals from space. It was 7:30 at night and Gaz was feeling tired, not because she was sleepy, just tired of waiting for a chance to see her brother falling off the roof.

"Dib! I'm heading back in! Are you coming?" Gaz shouted at him from the backyard. Dib saw his sister shouting and took off the head phones.

"What?" Dib shouted back. Gaz growled and went inside. Dib shrugged his shoulders and continued to listen through his headphones. Gaz walked into the living room to see what her father was doing. Prof. Membrane was busy watching his favorite T.V. show.

"Ah, ha, ha,ha,ha!" Prof. Membrane laughed. "Ah, Eddie, what will you do next?"

Prof. Membrane saw his daughter walk into the living room without her brother.

"Daughter, where is my Son?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"He's still on the roof trying to find transmissions from other planets." Gaz informed him. Prof. Membrane shook his head.

"Aw, Son, when will you learn that aliens are not real?" Prof. Membrane said flipping the channel.

Dib sat on the roof listening closely. He heard a mumble.

"Hmmm…sounds like a transmission!" Dib shouted excited. Dib increased the signal and heard a very familiar voice.

"It seems that everything is coming according to plan. I feel the coming of the human race soon falling pitifully into my hands! I feel it squishing!"

"That's Zim!" Dib shouted. "What is he up to this time?"

"Ah, yes that's great Zim." An unfamiliar voice spoke.

'Could he be talking to his leaders?' Dib thought. Dib could understand what they were saying because they were speaking English. Dib thought this was strange.

"How come they're not speaking Irken?" Dib questioned.

"Hey, Zim don't worry about your position anymore. We are here and ready for the Invasion."

"Really?" Zim excited. "But I don't feel your ship nearby."

"We are transmitting from the planet Saturn and how would you feel if the Armada is close by?"

"I don't know." Zim plainly stated.

"Well, get ready to go, because we are planning to have you do an organic sweep. Destroying all life forms and whatnot."

"YES! YES! VICTORY FOR ZIM!"

"Oh, no!" Dib shouted horrified. "I'm too late; they are going to destroy the planet! I must stop them!" Dib jumped off the roof and landing on a trampoline his father set up earlier. He bounced off it and landed on his head. Dib rubbed his head and frantically ran to Zim's house. Dib opened the door and saw Zim standing in the living room.

"Ah, Dib this is going to be the last time I get to see your horrible face!"

"No it won't. I came here to stop you! I won't let you destroy my planet, you alien-fiend."

"Ha, just try and stop me, the Tallests are going to transport me to their ship to begin annihilation of this rock, as for Gir and Minimoose. Well…I wish them luck."

Zim felt a beam of light fuzz around him.

"Looks like it's time. Good bye, Dib, I hope you like exploding!" Zim waved farewell to him. Dib glared and charged at him. When Dib pushed Zim's shoulder, both Dib and Zim were teleported by the transporter. Dib felt a powerful force thrust his body forward while a beam of light blinded his senses. When his body decelerated and his eyes adjusted, Dib saw that he was not at Zim's house anymore, but in a gigantic dark-red mechanical shaped room full of Irkens. Dib looked around the room. Thousands of Irkens sitting in rows of five, ten feet above Dib and Zim gawking at Zim and the human he had brought. Dib turned around and saw a full view window of Saturn below its ring of asteroids. Dib was blown away from the amazing image that he was speechless.

"What are you doing here?" Zim spat at Dib. "How are you going to explode if you're not on your planet?"

Zim was getting ready to choke Dib until he saw his Tallest Red and Purple appear into the arena from the ceiling. The crowd of Irkens cheered when they saw their leaders as Red and Purple waved to them. They sat in their own personal thrown, between them on the floating platform, was one aspect of their computer control brain. It had a nasty mad face on its side, little bubble red screens upon the grey computer and tentacle like thick cables waving in the air sinisterly. Zim looked around the room and saw that the Sweeping Cannon was not present. He gave his Tallests a puzzled look.

"What is that thing? And where's the Sweeping Cannon?" Zim asked. "This planet can't destroy itself, ya know?"

After hearing Zim, his leaders and colleagues laughed at his ignorance. Dib saw their response and became confused. Dib waited for them to stop laughing to hear their explanation.

"Ah ha hah ah ha!" Tallest Red laughed. "Zim, you really think you conquered this planet?"

"Ummm…Yes." Zim responded. Tallest Red and Purple once more cracked up.

"Zim, you moron, you really think we were, ah ha ha ha ha, that was- that was-" Purple laughed. "He actually fell for it. That was brilliant."

"Well, I had to think of something, he wouldn't come so easily to his own banishment party." Red said then covered his mouth quickly. He spoiled the surprise.

"Banishment!" Zim questioned horrified.

"Oops!" Red said and recollected his emotions to a serious matter. "Yes, banishment, too long have you became a nuisance to our species. It wasn't enough that you had to ruin Operation Impeding Doom, but since you continue to be part of this mission, we have to stop you before you destroy this one also."

"But I am Zim! I'm the crucial Invader to help us succeed in this operation. Why banish me? This just doesn't make sense!"

"What doesn't make sense is your own ego!" Red continued. "Need you for Impeding Doom 2, hate to break it to you, wait, what am I saying, of course I do! You are not an Invader, we stripped you of that title years ago. Your mission it's a fake, a sham, a distraction to keep you away from us as long as possible so we can complete our Operation, yet you, on a daily basis, become more annoying even when your light years away. Tell me, how you do that Zim, huh! I would really like to know!" Red screamed banging his fist on his arm chair.

"Bottom line, we hate your guts and we don't want you around anymore, and since the control brains don't want to terminate you due to the trial incident. We have no choice but to take action into our own hands." Purple explained.

"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Dib screamed at the Tallests. They looked at the human jumping up and down waving his arms.

"Oh, that's a human right?" Purple asked.

"Looks that way." Red asked. "Yes, you…Earthling, what is it?"

"So, Zim wasn't an Invader?" Dib asked.

"No he wasn't."

"And not a real threat to mankind."

"No. Sorry if he wasted your time, but I'm afraid he was nothing more than annoying little pest and your planet, we have no need for it. It's filthy."

"Yeah, what good is a planet full of burning water? Am I right?" Purple questioned his fellow Irkens. They nodded agreeing to their Tallest.

"So all this time I was fighting a loser?" Dib said astonished. "Man, my sister was right; you are a stupid alien that couldn't conquer Earth. I feel so stupid!"

"Please don't banish me, I can change!" Zim pleaded on his knees. "Give me another chance and I can prove to be a great Invader."

"Your time is up. We are tired of your interference." Red said tossing aside Zim's plead. "We have decided among your peers to banish you to the planet that you seem to hate the most according to your report, Earth. The planet in which you could never conquer, but that's not all; We are confiscating any useful Irken equipment which includes your ship, any experiments or projects you completed and weapons that belong to our race. We will leave you your base; consider this our last act of kindness you'll ever receive. As we speak, we have repo Irkens at your residence right now!"

"Not my DVD player!"

"Umm…Actually, that's not on the list but since you mention it, we are going to confiscate that as well."

"Nooooo!" Zim screamed as he felt his whole world crumble inside him.

"Umm, can I go home?" Dib asked but they ignored him.

"That's not all Zim, we arranged a-"

"Nooooo!" Zim kept on screaming.

"Would you be quiet?" Purple shouted. Purple reached for the computer brain's lever and pulled down forcing the cables to connect to Zim's Pak. The cables lifted Zim a couple of feet in the air. "As punishment for being an annoying pest, you will be infected with a virus that will let out painful shocks of electricity at any given time. Now, prepare yourself for your doomed fate!"

Red pushed a few buttons, and then the computer brain booted up, in a flash, a jolt of electricity travelled from the computer cables, into Zim's Pak. The electric current travelled through his body causing Zim to howl a crackling scream that gave Dib chills. Dib covered his ears horrified by his scream. He closed his eyes waiting for Zim to stop screaming, but he didn't stop until the cables let him go. Zim dropped to the ground gravelling in fetal position holding his arms. Dib opened his eyes and saw Zim's body shake as a few electric shocks enter his body activated from the virus. Dib stood still watching his body twitch. Zim looked up at Dib pathetically then screamed.

"AhHHHHHHHHHHHhHHHHHH!" Zim screamed without warning rolling on the floor grabbing at his Pak trying to find way to stop his pain. Dib stepped a couple of feet away as he watched Zim roll screaming, his screams faint compared to his fellow Irkens laughter amused by his dance. Dib looked up and heard a chorus of a thousand Irkens laughing at his pain. Dib never felt sicker. Dib saw Zim stopped screaming, and whimpered trying to recover from the shock but another strong shock hit his body and Zim was screaming, rolling on the floor again. Dib looked up at his Tallests seeing they had a device in the red- eyed one's hands.

"Give me a turn! I want to make him squeal too!" Purple begged.

"Fine," Red said handing him the controlling device. Purple turned the dial to low and watched Zim breathe a little resting on the floor. Zim huffed for a second before Purple turned the dial to high again.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'm SORRRYYY I FAILLLED YOUUU! JUST PLEASE MAKE IT STOPPPP!" Zim managed to scream. Red and Purple laughed at Zim's silly request and continued to turn the dial back and forth. Dib grabbed his ears holding them shut trying to block out Zim's screaming but he had a very good vocal cords enough to reach Dib's conscience that made him do an amazing thing. Stand up for Zim.

"You have to stop this, this is not right!" Dib screamed to them. The Tallests looked at the little human in wonder. "I know he's a jerk, but this is brutal, just brutal!"

"Yaaahh," Purple yawned. "His screaming has become less energetic. I'm bored. Let's just send his to Earth already."

"Let's," Red agreed and turned off the remote. Zim sighed in relief, and then vibrated as a little shock came from his Pak consuming his body. "It's too bad that Irken machinery was wasted on studying Earth."

"At least we know where to banish other Irkens who act like Zim." Purple pointed out.

"Agreed, besides, at least Zim was nice enough to bring us this human." Red said looking at Dib. Dib backed away overhearing their conversation.

"Okay dokey, Zim, we are sending you back. Enjoy your banishment." Purple said preparing the teleporter.

"This human's large head could be useful to dissect. Guards, capture our new test subject." Red demanded. Irkens soldiers jumped into the arena and surrounded Dib. Dib panicked and reached into his pocket hoping to find something to protect himself. He pulled out a doll.

"Stay back! I have a doll!" Dib screamed. The guards back away unexpected by Dib's choice of weapon. Dib squeezed the doll's belly making it squeak. "Mommy, I love you!"

"The doll speaks blasphemy, get him!" Purple shouted. The guards chased Dib as he ran around the arena trying to find an exit. He circled around and found none, he was trapped. Zim opened his eyes hearing Dib's screams come closer, Zim tilted his head up seeing a particles of light appear around him. Zim lay on the ground seeing Dib running closer to him. Zim twitched his arm and began to move his fingers. Each nerve sting from the damage but it wasn't enough to stop him for when Dib ran by Zim, with all his might, Zim grabbed Dib's right ankle and held on making Dib trip. The teleporter activated sending both Dib and Zim back to Earth in Zim's house. Dib felt the pain of the shock enter his body. It was so painful that it made him cry. Dib wiped his eyes as he gathered his wits. He realized he wasn't being chased anymore, that he was safe, thanks to this alien frying on the floor. Zim rolled over, and then twitched as another shock occurred.

"Zim, you saved me?" Dib said profound. "I thought you hated me. Why?"

Zim rolled on his chest, got on his knees, pushed up off the floor, weakly stood as he addressed Dib his reason.

"Because you are my human test subject and I'm not going to let them take you away…" Zim shouted then winced. He fell on the floor unconscious. Dib saw that Zim was knocked out cold.

"Geez, Zim, you're not a real Invader but you still want to use me for your experiments! You jerk!" Dib growled at him. Zim laid there, not responding to Dib's complaint. Dib stared at the weak alien with burn marks on his face; dark and smoky. The sleeves of his shirt were tattered from the electrocution and the lower corners of his shirt were frayed. The Pak released another shock, and made Zim flinch while he slept. Dib watched Zim's body twitch once more. Dib looked sadly at Zim then shook his head.

"I shouldn't feel sorry for him, he deserve this fate. He's the same arrogant jerk that caused me nothing but misery! I should send him to the Swollen Eyeballs if all I care, but he did save me…No, must resist! What if this is all a labyrinth trick to throw me off guard? I have to see if he really a threat to mankind. It's my duty to know!" Dib proudly stated. Dib ran into his kitchen trying to remember any entrance into his lab. He found the toilet bowl. He stood in the waterless bowl and pulled the cord to make him flush into his lab. What he saw after he flushed himself was a dark empty room. There were beakers crashed and shattered on the floor of whatever liquid it held. There was pulled up cables coming from the walls in which there used have been control monitors. No experiments, no weapons, just leftover scraps of metal, plastic and wires. Dib spotted an elevator that pointed up.

"That's must be where his spaceship is." Dib said then went into the cylinder tube. The tube forced him up into roof level. Dib saw the sliver platform which held his ship was bare. It had nothing but a huge dust mark where the ship used to sit. Dib looked around the house high and low. All he found that would be useful for Zim to take over the planet was a broken ray gun and the time stasis field machine that was also destroyed. No ship. Dib spotted his spy cameras and was glad none have been taken.

"So Zim is banished." Dib said sitting on the edge of his broken computer control board. "And he's getting tortured right now as I search through his stuff. What is he going to do now? Is he going to still try to conquer Earth regardless of his banishment? Yep, he would totally do that unless I find a way to negotiate with him."

Dib smiled thinking of his clever plan and went inside the elevator that took him to the kitchen. He saw Zim was still lying on the floor. Dib thought of what to do over and over in his head waiting for Zim to wake. Dib paced the floor shaking his head.

"What am I doing? This is not going to work. I should send him to the Eyeballs and get it over with so I wouldn't wonder whether he would take over the Earth or not." Dib looked over to Zim's hand in which grabbed his ankle. The finger pads of the glove were burned off leaving his fingers exposed to the shocks. He remembered the pain of the shock. It made him shudder.

"I guess I owe him this much of a choice." Dib decided. Dib heard Zim murmured and stopped pacing. He saw the alien lift his head and open his eyes.

"Dib…" Zim said recognized the human. "What are you-Owww!"

Zim question was cut short from his Pak's shock.

"I'm here to offer you a deal." Dib answered his possible question.

"What kind of deal?" Zim asked holding his shoulder trying to rub away the ache.

"I'll help you get rid of the virus on two conditions. One: Stop trying to conquer Earth and Two: Don't use me for anymore experiments! I don't want to be a human genuine pig having to explain why I been missing for days!"

Zim thought over Dib requests and shook his head.

"No, I can only disagree on one condition that is I still want to conquer Earth. It's-Owww!" Zim stopped from another shock. "My duty as an Invader to conquer it."

"Face it, Zim, it's over!" Dib shouted. "You're not an Invader. What exactly would you try to prove by conquering this planet? You suck at conquering anything. The only thing that stopping you is me and I'm just an eleven year old boy. Do you think conquering Earth would gain the respect of those morons that hate your existence?"

"Yes, they would like me for sure-"

"Zim, they hate you."

"Hate me?"

"Yea,"

"Do you hate me?" Zim asked.

"YES!"

"Then why are you helping me?"

"I don't know! Do you want my help or not?" Dib screamed frustrated.

"What if you do get rid of the virus, what will you do if I try to conquer this world again? What makes you think I'm going to keep my word?"

"Look, I don't care either way. I'm only helping you because you saved me from being a human lab rat. So you can take my help, and agree to my truces or keep getting electrified. Think about it and consider your best option." Dib spoke to Zim seriously. Zim and Dib glared at each other intensely until another shock entered Zim's body.

"Okay, I accept your proposals." Zim finally agreed. Dib nodded.

"Follow me, my Dad might be the best person for the job." Dib suggested.

"Prof. Membrane! Him!" Zim said in disbelief. "What makes you think he would know how to fix Zim?"

"It's worth a try. What do you have to lose that is not already taken from you?" Dib asked Zim opening his door.

"Good point. Owww-" Zim peeped from pain. When Dib and Zim were getting ready to leave, Gir and Minimoose entered into the yard. Gir and Minimoose stared at Zim captivated by his new appearance.

"OOOOOoooo. You look funny."

"Nothing is funny about me, I'm in serious pain."

"What is that?"

"Nevermind." Zim spat out. Gir looked into the house and saw something was yanked out of the Television set. The DVD player.

"M-my DVD player! It's stolen…" Gir walked into the house. Gir rubbed the side of the T.V. set then began to tear up. "WHYYYY! WHYYYY!"

Minimoose heard Gir crying and decided to join him. Zim stared annoyed by his robots crying over the absence of the DVD player.

"Let's go." Zim said.

"Should they know you aren't-"

"I'll tell them later." Zim said. Dib shrugged his shoulders and they continued walking to Dib's house. Dib lead the way keeping an eye on Zim. They didn't speak much during the walk. The only thing that was breaking the ice of silence between the two was Zim's occasional yelps.

They made it to Dib's front porch. Dib stopped in front of doorway and turned around to face Zim.

"Are you going to keep your word?"

"I agreed but it's doesn't mean you can trust me."

"I could never trust you, but we are at truces for now until it's breached."

"Agreed." Zim stated, and then yelped from another jolt. Dib opened the door and saw Gaz and Prof. Membrane sitting on the couch together watching a game show.

"Ah, Son, you came home just in time for Jeopar-AHHHHHhhhhhh!" Prof. Membrane screamed noticing Zim. "What is that THING?"

"Dad," Dib said calmly motioning to Zim. "This is an alien."

"Hi." Zim peeped quickly waving his hand.

"That's AN ALEIN! That can't be. It has to be another explanation to this human's horrible defects."

"Hey," Zim snapped offended. Then an intense shock hit his body causing Zim to kneel on the floor. Zim held his Pak and looked up at the father and son arguing.

"Dad, take off your goggles and see, he's an alien!" Dib explained. "An actual, outer space from another planet, alien!"

"Son, I can't take off my goggles. They have been fused to my face!" Prof. Membrane screamed dramatically.

"Come on, Dad. You know him, this is Zim!" Dib pointed to him then ran up to Zim and grabbed his face. "See, the green skin, the same outfit, height, this is Zim."

"Let go of me human before I destroy you…" Zim mumbled to Dib. Zim was too weak to smack him away.

"Gaz, you know Zim's an alien, tell him!" Dib spoke to his sister. Gaz looked over to Dib, then at wounded Zim and back to her horrified father. She got off the couch.

"Your voices are irritating! I'm going to my room." Gaz said then walked upstairs to play her video game. Prof. Membrane sighed calming down and sat back down on the couch. He rested his head and rubbed his forehead with his index finger and thumb, then had another look at Zim. Zim blinked curiously at Prof. Membrane staring. Prof. Membrane cringed and looked back at his Son.

"So, this is an alien." Prof. Membrane said grasping the situation.

"Yes," Dib said annoyed.

"And he's Zim?"

"YES!" Dib shouted. "Zim, put on your disguise!"

"Do I really have to?" Zim whined.

"If you want him to help you." Dib said.

"Fine," Zim said. Zim grabbed his wig and contacts out of his smoky Pak and place the wig and contacts on his head and eyeballs. Prof. Membrane stood up again recognizing Zim.

"You're the alien!" Prof. Membrane shouted pointed to Zim.

"Now, he's getting it." Zim commented taking off his wig and contacts. Zim winced when another shock entered his body. Prof. Membrane looked at the injured alien.

"What's wrong with it?" Prof. Membrane asked his Son.

"His Pak is infected with a virus that shocks him with electricity."

"Hmmm…Sounds painful."

"It's really, really, really painful…" Zim mumbled as another shock hit him.

"Dad, Zim needs our help." Dib told his father.

"What can I do? I don't know anything about him. I'm just an ordinary scientist."

"Ordinary scientist?" Dib questioned his skills. "You're the Man of Science! An inventor, chemist, electrician, and biologist wrapped into one. You even have the world's power supply connected to our house. I think you are more than qualified enough."

"Okay, but Son, why should I help him, why is he here on our planet to begin with?"

"Because he saved me, Dad." Dib told his father.

"You saved my Son?" Prof. Membrane asked Zim.

"Huh?" Zim questioned him, and then remembered he actually did. "Oh, yeah, yeah, saved him, can you help me now?"

"I'll explain everything, Dad, but in the mean time we really need to fix Zim's Pak."

Prof. Membrane knelt down next to Zim and examined his current condition. He had a few burn marks on his face, hands and arms.

"I need to take him to my lab for examination. Quickly!" Prof. Membrane grabbed both Dib and Zim's arm. "Not a moment to spare. Science is to be done!"

Prof. Membrane ran Zim and Dib to his lab downstairs. He placed Zim on a table and Dib next to him. Zim looked around the room and noticed the razor sharp knives and tools on the walls. Zim became frightened by the tools. He gulped nervously and began to sweat. Prof. Membrane took a little flash light and shined into Zim's buggy red eye quickly. Then he grabbed Zim's wrist trying to take his pulse.

"Hey," Zim snapped annoyed trying to pull his arm away. "What are you doing to Zim?"

"I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with-"Prof. Membrane saw an electric current travel out of the mechanical device on his back through his arm to Prof. Membrane gloves.

"Watch out, Dad." Dib warned his father, but Prof. Membrane held on. Lucky for him, he was wearing rubber gloves. Prof. Membrane looked over Zim's shoulder noticing the device that was administrating the shocks.

"Is that your Pak?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Yes, that's it." Zim said. Prof. Membrane nodded.

"Your pulse rate is very slow. May I take X-rays of you?" Prof. Membrane asked. "It will only take a minute."

"Do they hurt?" Zim asked.

"Of course not," Prof. Membrane chuckled. "Look at me, talking to an alien. Come with me."

Zim pushed himself off the table and walked to Prof. Membrane's personal x-ray machine.

"See, Son, I told you having our own machine would be beneficial to the house hold." Prof. Membrane gloated to his son.

"Well, my vote is still on the air hockey table." Dib muttered. Zim stepped into the machine and stood still as Prof. Membrane took his x-rays.

"Okay, alien, you can come out now." Prof. Membrane called for him.

"I have a name, it's AHhhhhh!" Zim shrieked from another shock.

"Okay, Ahhhhhh." Prof. Membrane said waiting for the machine to print out a picture Zim's innards. Prof. Membrane stared at the photo in awe at Zim's squeedlyspooch.

"Miraculous, I never seen anything like it." Prof. Membrane announced. "It seems that your Pak can be removed. We can do surgery and-"

"No, we mustn't. If we remove the Pak, I will surly die." Zim warned them. "It's my life support system. I need it to survive and reactivate me. It is also a capsule of my personality and memories."

Prof. Membrane heard Zim's explanation looked at his x-rays and recognized a few organs.

"But it looks like you have a brain and functioning organs that you wouldn't need the system. Are your organs functioning at all?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Actually, no, our species relied on our Paks to keep us alive for generations. It kept us alive longer than our organs. That's why we used them. Eventually, our organs shut down and our bodies adjusted to the Paks." Zim explained.

"So, your organs are not in use?"

"No, probably not."

"Hmmmm…" Prof. Membrane hummed pacing back in forth thinking of an idea. "I got it! What if we use a defibrillator to reanimate your body so you would rely on your organs instead of the Pak. Is there a time limit in which you can go so long without your Pak?"

"Yes, I can live without it for ten minutes." Zim stated.

"That should be enough time." Prof. Membrane said.

"But, Dad, how do we know that will work, I don't think Zim has a heart."

"No, but he may have something similar to it due to his pulse. I don't think the Pak shut down all of his organs if he's able to create this pulse. This gives a good chance to free him from it and revive them." Prof. Membrane theorized.

"That's great, but what about my memories? My personality, how are going to 'reanimate' that?" Zim asked them.

"I know, you can use Tak's ship to download your personality into it. It was able to absorb my personality and memories, it should do the same for you, and then after your Pak expired, we can transfer them into your brain." Dib suggested.

"That's just crazy enough to work." Zim said thinking over Dib's suggestion.

"Tak's ship?" Prof. Membrane questioned his son.

"Follow me." Dib said. Zim and Prof. Membrane follow Dib to the back garage where Dib hid the ship under a blue tarp. Dib pulled the tarp off the ship and showed his father.

"This is an alien spaceship that landed in our backyard one night. It belonged to another alien of Zim's species."

"Son, why didn't you tell you had a spaceship?" Prof. Membrane said displeased.

"Because you wouldn't believe me, you never believed me. You always think I'm crazy, but when I try to talk to you about this stuff, about anything, you call me your 'poor insane son'." Dib said.

"Son, I-"

"Forget it," Dib cut him off, and then turned around hiding his hurt. "I'm used to being called crazy."

Prof. Membrane felt awful that he never believed his Son until tonight and lowered his head. Dib kept silent as well. Zim felt the awkward silence between the two grow longer until he was shocked once more.

"Professor Membrane, if I go through this surgery, is there a chance that I will die?"

"Yes, in order for me to reanimate your organs, you will have to die for at least a few seconds. That's the only way the defibrillator could work effectively. During that time when you awake, we will transfer your personality. You can take some time and think about-"

"I don't need to. I'll do it. I don't want live like this." Zim gravely agreed to the surgery. Zim walked up to Dib. "Dib, how do I download my personality into this ship?"

Dib pressed a button to open up the spacecraft's window shield. Zim got into the ship's cockpit and Dib showed him what buttons to press to activate the download. Dib stepped out of the spaceship. Zim pressed the buttons and the ship's helmet plopped on Zim's head and then drills enter the helmet. The downloading process began. Dib watched Zim get electrocuted throughout the process. Prof. Membrane came up to his son and put his hand on Dib's shoulder. Dib looked up at his father.

"Son," Prof. Membrane addressed him. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you, I thought you were going through a phase, but after what I seen tonight, it's not nonsense, this is actually real. And you're not insane, which makes me very relieved. For now on, I pledge to become a better father and be more involved you and your sister's lives because by God, you guys really need it."

"You mean, you will be home more often?" Dib asked him.

"Yes, I will,"

"And I can talk to you about anything without you calling me crazy?"

"Yes, after this, I think I'm more open to your para-science ideas."

"It's paranormal, Dad." Dib chuckled.

"Well, you're going to have to explain it to me later, huh, Son?" Prof. Membrane said rubbing his son's head.

"Sure, Dad." Dib said smiling up at his father. Prof. Membrane and Dib watched as the download of Zim's personality was complete. Zim weakly got out of the cockpit.

"Personality downloaded complete," The robotic voice of the ship spoke, and then the ship waved its metal pointed sharp crawls upward. "Foooolssss, I AMM ZZIIIMMMMM! Almighty and powerful Zim! Mha ha ha hah ah ha haha ha ha! I will destroy all human life, and this planet and-"

Dib shut off the ship's main power.

"Not today, Zim-ship." Dib said. Zim stared in awe by his personality.

"Am I really that loud and obnoxious?" Zim asked Dib.

"You have no idea." Dib commented.

Prof. Membrane and Dib prepared for the operation. Since they couldn't get the space ship into Prof. Membrane's lab, they moved the equipment needed into the garage. Dib fiddled with Tak's ship to figure out how to transfer Zim's personality while Prof. Membrane gathered the supplies. Zim helped Dib decode the Irken language on the ship's mainframe.

"Transferring information." Zim read the ship's hologram monitor. "Personality transfer. Yep, looks like you can do it."

"Zim," Dib said while he jumped out of the cockpit.

"What, Earth-stink?" Zim snapped back. Then felt another shock pass through his body. He winced then stood his ground again.

"You really want to go through this surgery, you might die." Dib said.

"And what concern is that to you?" Zim asked. "You always wanted to dissect me anyways, if this fails, at least I won't be alive for my autopsy."

Dib, shot down by his concerns, glared back at Zim.

"Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do when you die, Alien-scum and don't you forget it."

"This is a bad idea; this has to be a trick, why did I agree to this?"

"Because you want to live, don't you?" Prof. Membrane asked Zim overhearing their conversation.

"Regardless what happened, I still want to live, although I don't deserve to."

"Everyone deserves a chance to live. It depends on how you live it." Prof. Membrane said. "I promise we'll do our best to help you." Then Prof. Membrane looked at his son. "And no one is doing autopsies on anyone. Son, why would you say such a thing?"

"He was an Alien Invader trying to conquer Earth, what else I am I suppose to say to scare him?"

"You were sent to destroy human life!" Prof. Membrane exclaimed.

"Not anymore, that's why I have this virus implanted into my Pak. It was punishment for being annoying, part of my banishment."

"I'll explain later." Dib quickly stated to his Dad.

"Okay, well, as long as you're not planning to destroy this planet after you get well, shall we begin?" Prof. Membrane said to Zim. Zim nodded and sat upon the table. Beside his left was the defibrillator with electrode paddles ready to go and an ECG. Zim looked curiously at the ECG.

"What's that thing?" Zim asked.

"It's an ECG otherwise known as an Electrocardiograph. We are going to use this to keep track of your pulse rate. Now, I'm going to need you to take off your shirt so I can put these on." Prof. Membrane said showing Zim the electric suction cups and straps connected to the ECG. Zim took off his shirt and Prof. Membrane wrapped the straps around his wrists and ankles. Then Prof. Membrane placed the six suction cups below upon Zim's chest. Zim started to get nervous. Prof. Membrane read the ECG and saw it was picking on Zim's pulse pattern. Prof. Membrane watched the pattern on the screen change rapidly. Prof. Membrane looked over to see Zim was breathing uneasy.

"Calm down, it's going to be okay." Prof. Membrane told him. Zim took a deep breath and tried to relax. "Son, you have the cords for the personality transfer ready?"

"Yes, Dad," Dib said handing his father the suction cups connected to the cockpit of Tak's ship.

"Excellent." Prof. Membrane said pleased and carefully placing the twelve suctions cups upon Zim's head. "Okay, Zim, let's remove your Pak."

"Okay," Zim said. Zim reached to his back and pressed all three red buttons at once to perform such a task. He felt a very strong electrical current travel from the Pak as he yanked it off his back. Zim pulled free from the Pak's cables and sighed. It was finally out of him. The countdown began. The Pak started to flash red as he placed on the table.

"Zim, how do you feel?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Better, I don't feel the shocks anymore." Zim told him.

"Good, let me know if you start to feel weak." Prof. Membrane said. Zim nodded and waited for the longest ten minutes of his life slowly countdown. Prof. Membrane and Dib watched Zim carefully. Dib was in the cockpit of Tak's ship ready for the personality transfer while his father was ready with the defibrillator's paddles. It was minute three.

"Feel anything?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Yeah, I'm starting to forget some things like…" Zim trailed off. "I don't remember, what was I saying?"

It was minute six.

"This is so intense," Dib said feeling frustrated. "Come on, Zim, die already."

"Dib!" Prof. Membrane snapped at his son.

"Who is Zim?" Zim asked the people around him he could not recognize. "Where am I and who are you people?"

"I'm Prof. Membrane, and you are fine, relax." Prof. Membrane advised Zim.

"Okay, for some reason, I feel tired, I must lie down." Zim murmured lying on the table. Zim closed his eyes and his pulse began to slow down.

"His pulse rate is starting to dip. Everything is coming according to plan." Prof. Membrane said looking at his watch. "It's just a matter of time."

Dib watched Zim sleeping on the table, then noticed something missing.

"Dad, where did you put Zim's Pak?" Dib asked his father.

"I didn't move it." Prof. Membrane said, and then behind Dib, Prof. Membrane saw the Pak's cords getting ready to attack Dib.

"Son, behind you!" Prof. Membrane screamed dropping the paddles.

"Ahhh!" Dib screamed fighting the Pak off his back rolling out of the cockpit. The Pak grabbed around Dib's neck trying to find a spot in which it could leach on.

"No creepy alien device is going to kill this son of mine!" Prof. Membrane said grabbing the Pak pulling it off his son. Prof. Membrane opened the garage and threw the Pak outside and closed the garage manually. Prof. Membrane sighed then remembered Zim. He looked at his watch. It was nine in a half minutes left of Zim's life.

"Quickly, Son, to your station."

"On it." Dib shouted to his father as he jumped into the ship. Prof. Membrane grabbed the paddles, turned on the machine and rubbed the paddles together in a clockwise motion to receive an electric charge. It was ten minutes. Zim hit flat line on the ECG. Prof. Membrane slammed the paddles on Zim's chest. It made his body jump. Prof. Membrane watched the ECG, no pulse. Prof. Membrane began the process once more. He readies the paddles and slammed onto his chest again. Still no pulse.

"Dad," Dib said worried.

"Come on, creature from another dimension, live!" Prof. Membrane shouted slamming the paddles once more. Zim's eyes shot open. This time, they got a pulse. "Dib, the transfer!"

"Right!"

Dib pressed the button and began the personality transplant. Dib watched the cords light up as information moved from the ship into Zim's mind. Zim lay still feeling the memories quickly coming back into his mind. His childhood, his attitude and outlet on life flash before him in a matter of seconds. Dib and Prof. Membrane watched the download carefully until they heard an explosion. Dib and Prof. Membrane jumped from fright of the sound. It came from the backyard.

"What was that?" Dib screamed.

"I don't know, but let's focus on this for now."

"The download is almost over." Dib said watching the monitor. Then the monitor screen turned red and shut down. The cord's lights began to dim.

"What happen?" Prof. Membrane asked his son.

"I don't know, the download isn't over already, is it?" Dib said typing on the ship's control board.

"Error," The ship spoke. "External damage to main power cord. Able download 96%. Personality download has been damage. Personality transfer programs are on temporary shut down."

"The cord was damaged." Dib said looking at the plug of the cable. He saw it was scrapped open exposing a few cut wires. "It must have been damage during the struggle with Zim's Pak. How's Zim doing, Dad."

"He's breathing, I can feel his pulse. It's alive! It's alive! Ah ha ha ha hah ha!" Prof. Membrane boasted proudly stretching out his arms to the sky. "I am GOD!"

Dib watched his father laugh evilly in disbelief.

"Dad…You're scaring me…" Dib said grabbing his arm.

"Oh, sorry about that, Son." Prof. Membrane calmed down. "Yes, it's seems the operation was a success. He's going to be okay."

"But, what about his personality? Only 96% was downloaded."

"He'll probably be missing a few memories but we'll have to see when he reaches consciousness." Prof. Membrane said then looked at his watch. "Look at the time, its 1:30 A.M. on a school night. You gotta go to bed."

"What about Zim?" Dib asked.

"I'll keep an eye out on him, now off you go." Prof. Membrane commanded his son.

"Dad, we make a pretty good team."

"As it should be, Son, as it should be." Prof. Membrane agreed.

Dib smiled and opened the garage's door.

"Holy crap!" Dib shrieked in horror. "Dad, I think I know where the explosion came from."

Prof. Membrane and Dib stared at the black smoke stain on the yard. Around it was shattered remaining pieces of Zim's Pak.

* * *

Zim slowly opened his eyes. His eyes adjusted to the light. The fuzzy room became clear to him. He wasn't in the garage. He glanced around and saw gadgets and tools around the metallic room. He was in Prof. Membrane's lab. When he moved his body, it surprised him that it didn't ache. He sat up suddenly and looked at his hands. His burned marks were gone. He saw that he was still hooked to the ECG. His pulse rate was much faster.

"I'm alive." Zim spoke. He looks at his chest and saw he was wearing a white t-shirt. He pulled the shirt up and saw that the marks were missing from his stomach as well, and then he felt his back. He felt newly developed puffed up streaks of skin. He felt so many of them. They were the scars of his ordeal that he could never heal.

"You asleep, you're finally asleep, wah, ha, ha, ha!" Cried a hysterical voice. Zim turned around and saw Gir charging at him. Zim tried to wave the robot away, but Gir already jumped on him giving him a big hug.

"Get off of me, Gir!" Zim commanded but of course Gir didn't listen continue to hug Zim.

"Now what's with all the commotion?" Prof. Membrane spoke walking downstairs with Minimoose floating beside him. "Gir, you better not be trying to eat my inventions again."

Prof. Membrane saw the happy robot hugging Zim and smiled under his collar.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake." Prof. Membrane said. "And how are you feeling?"

Zim searched his memory trying to find the right word to describe his emotion.

"I feel, different." Zim said. "And rested."

"Ah ha ha ha," Prof. Membrane laughed at his strange statement. "Well, you have been sleeping for three days."

"Three days!" Zim exclaimed.

"Uh-huh, the operation was successful; all your organs are functioning. Just look at your back. You are free from any shock."

"Yes, but I have the scars to show for it."

"Yes, I tried to heal those horrible electric stripes on your back, but my new ointment could heal so much." Prof. Membrane explained. "Do you mind if I ask a few questions."

"Why?"

"During the operation, there were some problems downloading your personality. At the seventh minute, your Pak came to life and tried to connect with Dib. We struggled with the device and during that struggle; it damaged the main power cord connecting you to the ship. It was only able to download 96% of your personality or memories and at the tenth minute, your Pak self destructed. We didn't see the explosion itself because we threw it in our backyard and shut the garage door, but well, it's was a big explosion."

"So I might be missing some memories…" Zim said.

"Yes, now would you answer my questions? I need to see if there any major memory gaps." Prof. Membrane informed him.

"Okay, sure." Zim agreed.

"What is your name?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Zim."

"Do you know who I am?"

"You're Professor Membrane." Zim said. "And you're Minimoose and you are Gir and would you please let go of me! How did you guys know I was here anyways?"

"Dib told us where to find you; he told us everything that we are going to be living on this planet forever and ever. It makes me so happy." Gir explained. "We had been watching you ever since waiting for you to fall asleep."

"It's awake, Gir." Zim corrected him. Zim looked over at his smiling robots astonished. "You mean you guys been watching over me this whole time?"

"Yes," Prof. Membrane answered his question. "They been quite worried for you, even Dib came by to see how you doing."

"Hmm…Probably collecting information about Zim," Zim muttered to himself.

"How about I asked you a few more questions?"

"Sure, why not." Zim said.

"Where were you born?"

"I was born on the planet Irk, underground like the rest of my kind. I remember opening my eyes and feeling the cold sterile touch of that metal arm."

"Okay…" Prof. Membrane said to his strange comment but he took it as a good sign. Zim pondered through his head trying to remember what his ship looked like. He remembers entering his seat and then nothing.

"I don't remember how to fly my ship!" Zim shrieked. "This is horrible, how am going to use it."

"Oh, master, you don't need to worry about that. It's gone, bye, bye! So is the lab, it got destroyed." Gir explained.

"What?" Zim said then turned his head remember what happened three days ago. "That's right, the banishment."

"Zim, you seem to be in good health, how about I unhook you from the ECG and you can move around a bit. I'm sure your legs would appreciate it." Prof. Membrane said then turned off the ECG and removed the suction cups and straps. Zim pushed himself off the table and landed on his feet. Zim looked up at Prof. Membrane as he putting the machine away.

"Why don't you go ahead and say hello to Dib. He's in the living room." Prof. Membrane said. Zim turned around and was about to leave until he felt he had to tell him something. Zim went up to Prof. Membrane.

"Thank you."

Before Prof. Membrane could respond, he saw Zim running up the stairs. Prof. Membrane smiled and continued putting away the cords. Zim reached the entrance of Membrane's lab and saw Dib was waiting for him. Gir was jumping up and down on the couch next to Gaz who was playing on her video game.

"Gir, go away!" Gaz shouted at Gir.

"Okay, I'm an astronaut! Wheee!" Gir said activating his jetpacks flying out the open window. Zim shook his head from disapproval. Dib walked up to Zim.

"So, how are you feeling?" Dib asked snottily. "Like I care."

"For you information, I feel fine, better than before, Dib-stink!" Zim said walking further into the living room. "In fact, I feel like I have been reborn!"

"Really, how so?" Dib asked taking out a notebook hoping to gather more information on Zim's species.

"Well, I'm not in severe shocking pain for starters and my back feels lighter." Zim said walking up to the couch. He stood in front of the couch. He was going to sit down, but couldn't. He focused hard trying to sit on the couch cushion.

"What are you doing?" Dib asked.

"Trying to use my mechanical legs to sit on this couch, are you blind?"

"Zim, you can't do that anymore. The mechanical legs were part of your Pak, remember?"

"Oh, right." Zim realized then manually sat on the couch.

"Interesting," Dib stated. "So you think to make the mechanical legs in your Pak move?"

"Yeah, no wait! I mean, no…" Zim said trying to retract his answer. Zim then felt a strange feeling in his belly. "Urghhh.."

"What's wrong with you now?" Dib asked annoyed.

"I don't know," Zim said clenching his belly. "But I feel a strong pain..."

Zim and Dib heard his belly growl.

"Zim, you're hungry." Dib said blankly.

"Hungry?" Zim questioned looking down at his stomach. "That never happened before."

"Wait a minute, you don't feel hungry while wearing your Pak?"

"I guess not, what do you do when you feel…hungry?"

"You eat, Zim."

"What?"

"You eat, you know, put food in your mouth."

"All the time?"

"Yes, every time you feel hungry, wait, I saw you eat before. If you weren't eating because you felt hungry, then what were you doing?" Dib questioned the alien's odd eating habits.

"Snacking, there's a difference."

"How is that different?"

"There is a difference!" Zim screamed in Dib's face.

"Okay, okay," Dib said backing away. "Don't get all snappy at me. Aliens are weird."

"Ughhh…This pain is unbearable," Zim said holding his stomach.

"Then eat something, you moron." Dib rudely suggested.

"I don't know what to eat." Zim said walking into their kitchen. Zim opened the fridge and found nothing he could actually eat. Defeated, Zim sat at the table. "I'm so hungry, but I can't eat anything…"

Zim laid his head on the dining table rubbing his growling belly.

"It hurts…" Zim muttered weakly to Dib. Dib angrily sighed and thought of what he could eat to stop his whining.

"I got it!" Dib said snapping his fingers. Dib went into the freezer and retrieved two frozen waffles and put them in the toaster. In a couple of minutes, the waffles popped out of the toaster. Dib placed them on a plate and offered them to Zim.

"Here." Dib said annoyed. "I can't believe I'm feeding the enemy."

"Oh, yeah, waffles." Zim said ignoring Dib's statement. He picked up the waffle and chewed off a few pieces. He felt his belly feel better. Then he looked over at Dib suspiciously. "How do you know I can eat waffles?"

"Ummmm…" Dib hummed while rolling his eyes.

"Dib gave me a spy camera to put in the house!" Gir screamed while running through the kitchen.

"How did you get back in here?" Dib asked the robot but he already ran out of the kitchen. Zim glared at Dib while he smiled awkwardly.

"As soon as I'm done with these, waffles, you are removing every bug you planted out of my house!"

"No way!" Dib said. "Then I can't keep an eye on your evil and stuff. At least let me keep them to know that you are true to our agreement. My Dad fixed you, now you have to hold up to your end of the deal."

"Right, don't conquer Earth and not torture you, of course." Zim said rolling his eyes. "You know, Dib, this whole obsession of spying on me and such, can stop, I'm not going to be doing anything evil, as you put it, in awhile by what Gir told me."

"So you know about your lab being torn inside and out?"

"Yep, I haven't seen it for myself yet."

"It's pretty messy."

"You were in my lab!" Zim exclaimed.

"I had to know if you weren't making this whole thing up to trick me."

"Making it up?" Zim said bitterly. "You think I would go through trouble of being electrocuted by my leaders, feeling the cold grip of death over and over again every single time I was shocked, just so I can trick you?"

"Yes," Dib. Zim twitched his magenta eye angrily from his answer.

"Are you crazy?" Zim screamed. "I was in real pain!"

"I know, I felt it when you grabbed my ankle, that's why I decided to help you."

"That is it!" Zim screamed. "I can't take it anymore being surrounded by humans. I'm going home!"

Zim marched out of the kitchen, into the living room, and grabbed on the door knob. He stood there silently for a while. Dib stared at Zim for a minute.

"Well, go home already."

"Go home, Zim," Gaz agreed while she was playing her game. "You're ruining my concentration."

"I can't." Zim muttered. "I remembered from the brief rest I felt after the extreme shocking pain, I saw an asteroid leaving the polarity of Saturn's ring. I questioned myself why the asteroid would leave the magnificent ring. Maybe the ring never really needed the asteroid to make it move so beautifully."

"Is there a point to your babbling?" Dib asked irritated.

"Maybe, but perhaps not." Zim said letting go of the knob. He sighed then sat on Dib's couch with a gloomy expression on his face.

"So, what now?" Dib asked looking at the alien. "Are just going to sit on my couch?"

Zim didn't say anything and looked down at his hands.

"No, nu-uh, Get out of my house!" Dib snapped at Zim.

"Son, that is no way to treat a guest." Prof. Membrane said scolding Dib. Prof. Membrane was using his floating monitor to talk to his kids while he downstairs in his lab. The rectangular monitor floated next to Dib's head. "By the way you explained the situation, Son; this alien was abandoned by his people. He still recovery and can stay here for as long as he likes."

"But,"

"End of transmission." Prof. Membrane ended the call shutting off the floating screen. It floated back into Prof. Membrane's lab. Dib glared at Zim annoyed by his father's decision.

"You may have won the trust of my father for now, but once he realizes how much of a nuisance you are, he will-"Dib stopped halfway through his sentence to notice the couch cushion was changing color wear Zim sat. Zim felt the wet substance.

"Dib, I think your couch is leaky." Zim said.

"It's not the couch! It's you! You peed on my couch!"

"Peed?"

"Ewww!" Gaz screamed getting off the couch. "Dad, Zim peed on the couch!"

Gaz ran downstairs to tell her father the horrible news.

"I'm confused." Zim said. "That liquid came out of me?"

"Yes, it's called urine. Don't tell me you're not potty trained!"

"No, and how do I ride this train? Would you mind teaching me?"

Dib's mind struck with fear after Zim asked this question.

"Dad!" Dib screamed horrified running downstairs to join his sister.

Thirty minutes later

"And that is how you use the toilet." Prof. Membrane said walking out of the bathroom with Zim.

"Now I understand, I thought empting one's bladder was a human thing, but I guess I have to do it too." Zim said. Zim was wearing a pair of Dib's pants while his was in the washing machine so was the couch cushions covers.

"Yes, remember, every time you feel that urge, you gotta go."

"Yes, yes the urge. Zim knows of it." Zim said.

"Good, it looks like it getting late. Time for bed."

"Bed?" Zim questioned.

"Yes, you can sleep on the other couch in the living room. I'll get you a pillow and blanket." Prof. Membrane said walking in the hallway.

"Now, I have to sleep too?" Zim said. "Ah, how more human can I possibly get?"

Zim waited downstairs waiting to fall asleep on his couch. It wasn't very comfortable. Prof. Membrane came downstairs and handed Zim a white sheet and pillow. Prof. Membrane wished him goodnight and switched off the lights. Zim placed the pillow in the corner of the couch. The temperature of the room felt cold so he wrapped the sheet around him. He found it comforting despite his recent thoughts.

"What am I going to do?" Zim muttered rethinking the horrible events that happened to him. Zim felt abandoned, alone, without purpose. All his life he devoted himself to becoming an Invader, but now he was banished from the planet he pledged to serve. Zim laid his head on the pillow troubled by his thoughts. He was about to close his eyes until he heard a noise come from the kitchen.

"Hello?" Zim called out scared by the noise.

"Hi!" Gir peeped. He was wearing his dog suit. Minimoose floated from the darkness and entered the living room.

"Oh, it's just you, Gir." Zim said putting his head back on the pillow.

"Whatcha' doing?"

"Trying at this sleep thing." Zim said.

"I wanna help." Gir peeped. Before Zim could protest, Gir jumped on the couch and snuggled next time Zim.

"Uh, ummm…okay." Zim said sharing the blanket with Gir. Zim watched Gir close his eyes and saw Minimoose was sleeping where he floats hovering over Zim's head. Zim was thrown off by the strange behavior that his robots wanted to join him in this strange sleeping habit, but he didn't seem to mind their company. Zim laid his head back down on the pillow and shut his eyes.

Zim heard a noise that startled him awake. Zim looked over the side of the couch and saw it was Dib sneaking out the kitchen's door. Zim wondered what the human was doing at this time at night, so he moved out of his sheet slowly trying not to wake Gir. Zim stepped out quietly into the yard and saw Dib sitting on the roof looking up at the sky. Dib didn't spot his presence. Zim saw an installed ladder connected to the house and climbed up it. Zim reached the top. Dib heard some footsteps and turned around quickly and saw it was Zim walking towards him. Dib stood up.

"Come to push me off the roof, huh, alien?" Dib screamed. "I knew you couldn't be trusted, I-"

"No, that would be too easy." Zim said. "I like my plans to be more complex and entertaining. Pushing you off the roof seems too…dull."

"Okay, so you didn't come to hurt me, then why are you here?"

"I don't know, curious, I guess on why you up and check it out myself. I haven't mastered this whole sleeping thing, yet."

"I was looking at the stars. After midnight, they shine so brightly. I kind of wish I-" Dib looked over at Zim who was listening to him speak. "And why I am telling you this?

"I don't know, I was only asking." Zim said innocently. "Maybe I should go…"

"Wait, there's something I need to know."

"And what is that?"

"What are you going to do now?" Dib said. "Are you going to stay here on Earth or you going live on another planet, revenge per say on your kind?"

Zim thought over the answers to Dib's questions, and then replied.

"I don't know, since my Pak exploded, they probably think I am dead so there is no point in revenge. Also, due to my current memory loss, I don't know how to fly a ship or make one in that matter. It's all a big blur." Zim said holding his head. "So I'm stuck here as My Tall-, my former leaders, wanted."

Zim sat on the roof and stared at the concrete flat sadly. Dib turned to the stars and stared at them for a while. Dib turned back to Zim and saw his expression looked the same, sad, lost and confused in an unknown world.

"I thought about what you said about the asteroid leaving Saturn's ring." Dib said. Zim looked up at Dib. "Maybe the asteroid was escaping the ring because it doesn't belong there."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, maybe you should continue living under your human persona that you established already."

"What? And live a boring skool life of a fifth grader?" Zim questioned. "Do you know how demeaning that is?"

"Is being a normal human kid that bad? Come on, Zim. At least my kind doesn't electrocute people for being annoying." Dib said. Zim sat down on the surface of the roof and sighed. He looked down at his knees.

"What's the point?" Zim muttered.

"Huh?" Dib questioned.

"Living a fake human existence on this planet? What's the point? How long can it last before the humans catch on to who I really am? An alien, a stupid alien forsaken by his own kind, look at me! I don't have anything! I don't have a home, they took my experiments, my ship, and now I'm experiencing these new feelings in my body and it scares me. I should have never agreed to the operation, I wish I never survived."

"You have got to be kidding me."

Zim looked up at Dib who looked really angry at him.

"You're telling me that I got my Dad involved in your mess, have me help you download your personality, wait ten minutes to watch you die and reanimate yourself and let's not forget almost becoming your Pak's new buddy and all you want to do is die? That's just weak! We helped you and that's the thanks we get? You're so selfish, stupid and pathetic! No wonder your race didn't want you!"

"That's enough," Zim growled angrily. "Don't rub it in, Dib."

"What you going to do? Cry, poor little cry baby Zim, got banished by his people, boo-hoo-hoo!" Dib mocked him. Zim stood up in Dib's face and screamed.

"I am not a cry baby!"

"You look like a cry baby giving up on your life." Dib continued to mock.

"I will never give up!" Zim shouted.

"Prove it!" Dib stepped back a few steps, then pulled out a jet-black cell phone out of his pocket. "The Swollen Eyeballs gave me this phone to personally report my paranormal activity. One button and I could have them take you away. If you value your life, you have to stop me from pressing it." When Dib slowly moved his finger towards the button, Zim charged at him throwing a punch. Dib ducked it and ran from him.

"Gimme that phone!" Zim demanded chasing Dib.

"No, I'm sick of your attitude, I don't want you here anymore! Why should you care if I call them? You just told me a minute ago you don't want to live."

"I take it back!" Zim screamed catching up to Dib. Dib saw him catching up, turned around and tripped Zim. He landed head first in front of Dib. Dib leaned down towards Zim, he said,

"And what reason would you want to live? You told me you had nothing. I probably am doing you a favor calling them on you."

"That's not true," Zim said looking up at Dib. "I have, Gir and Minimoose, surely they like me."

"No robot is capable of affection."

"That's a lie!" Zim said suddenly grabbing Dib's collar and smashed him on the flat next to him. Dib landed front first on the roof, turned his head. He saw that Zim was getting up, then Dib grabbed Zim's arms and pinned him back onto the roof.

"Then what about your experiments, home and ship, what reason would you like to live after that's been taken from you?" Dib asked. Zim forced himself free from Dib and grabbed his shoulders threw him back on the flat. Zim rolled around the roof trying to get the cell phone away from Dib, screaming,

"I am Zim! I don't need that stuff! As long as I live, I'll be fine! I'll figure out a way to live on this rock. You can't defeat me that easily!"

"We'll see ab-" Dib was about to threatened until he felt his back dip into unsupported emptiness, seeing Dib face was distracted, Zim saw this as his chance to grab the phone not realizing they were falling off the roof. Zim and Dib felt their bodies dipped, and screamed. Zim quick reflexes caught the ledge with his left while his right hand bared the weight of Dib and the cell phone. Dib held on to the phone looking up to Zim frightened. Zim saw the scared expression on Dib's face and looked down. Below Dib, he saw he was below a trampoline. Zim knew that he didn't have enough strength to pull them up and the trampoline below looked like it was made for one person to bounce on.

"Let go!" Zim shouted at Dib.

"What?" Dib screamed back.

"Let go, you'll be fine, look below you!" Zim shouted.

"I'm not looking down, if I do, you'll force the phone away from me and make me drop."

"Who cares about the phone, let go of it!"

"No, you let go!"

Zim released his grip watching Dib fall into the trampoline. Dib's scream of cut short by stretchy elastic that broke his fall, Dib bounced a couple of inches on it astonished watching Zim pull himself back on the roof. Zim laid flat on it, and then stood up to see Dib sitting on the trampoline. He smiled at him.

"You can call them, I don't care!" Zim screamed at Dib proudly. "I liked to see them try to capture me!"

"Why don't you tell them yourself?" Dib smirked while throwing the cell phone over the roof. Zim followed the movement of the phone and caught it. Zim examined the phone and realized it was a fake. A toy cell phone. When Zim looked down to question why they were fighting over a fake phone, he saw Dib was gone. Zim thought long and hard over what have happened between them tonight. He looked at the phone and questioned.

"The boy tricked me, into making me feel better? Why?" Zim asked perplexed, then finally understood Dib's motives. "Perhaps he wants me around after all."

* * *

The next morning Dib entered the kitchen to get ready for skool. He spotted Zim at the table. Gaz was leaving the kitchen playing her game. She had already eaten breakfast. Dib glared at Zim and Zim did the same.

"How was your sleep cycle?" Zim asked.

"Fine, just fine." Dib bitterly answered. Zim still felt a lot of tension between him and Dib.

"So what's up with the toy phone, huh?" Zim asked throwing his toy on the table. Dib looked at the toy and back at Zim. "Using you're psychological tricks to cheer me up? If so, that was very nice of you. Thank you."

Dib glare was broken by Zim's expression of gratitude, then for a brief second, he returned his sour stare and snatched the phone off the table and put it back into his pocket.

"I only did it to scare you," Dib denied. "Don't think I won't really call them if you slip up because I will."

Dib walked up to the counter to prepare his toast while Zim secretly smiled at him. When Dib returned with his plate of toast, Zim wiped the smirk off his face. Dib sat across from him.

"You know," Zim began to speak catching Dib's attention away from his meal. "I thought about what you said last night and I made my decision. I decided to live this human life for the meantime until something better comes along."

"Like what?" Dib asked.

"I don't know, maybe another spaceship will crash on this planet I could fly. Who knows?" Zim said making up a scenario.

"That's very unlikely." Dib flatly stated.

"True, but that might happen more often if I'm going to be hanging around you."

"And what makes you think you'd be hanging around me?" Dib asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you still going to be spying on me to see if I'm doing something 'evil' or conquering the world. I just figure that's how you make friends."

"I never make friends; I never had a single friend in my life."

"I had one; you're not missing out on anything. They're not that great." Zim said. "And if that's how you make friends, I would feel sorrier for you that I would consider you a 'friend.'"

"I'll never be friends with you!"

"Good, because you wouldn't want to be friends with me anyways, you trouble-some human!"

"No, I wouldn't and another thing, if you want to get along the people on my planet, you have to learn to be nice." Dib said.

"Never, filthy Earth monkey!" Zim shrieked.

"And you need to stop calling us that. It makes you even more suspicious and offensive." Dib said.

"Fine, but I'm still going to call you that!"

"I don't care as long as you don't consider me your friend!" Dib screamed.

"Fine!" Zim screamed.

"Fine!" Dib screamed back. Zim poked at the toast, picked it up and took a bite.

"Hmmm. Toast is good." Zim stated. Dib sighed at his toast.

"What's wrong with you earth-boy. Not full of the hungries?" Zim said describing his new hunger urge.

"No, it's not that. I'm just a little disappointed."

"About what?"

"Well, I know this is going to sound stupid but I always thought that we would have a final battle to see who wins Earth."

"I always thought so too, but I guess it's too late for that. I'm not conquering this planet anymore, I'm living on it."

"I know, but I wish I could prove to everyone that I'm not crazy." Dib muttered. Zim looked over at the sad human that helped him and thought of something.

"You know, I have this one plan to conquer Earth that was prepared outside the base. It's not one of my brightest ideas and is very underdeveloped but I would rather use it than have it go to waste. I would have loved to see its potential put to the test. Want to settle it once and for all?" Zim tempted Dib.

"You're on Space-boy!" Dib accepted Zim's challenge.

Later at skool

"Help, help!" One of Dib's classmates screamed. "The ducks, they're everywhere!"

An army of ducks has filled the hallways and classrooms of their skool. Thousands of them. Mallards, pintails, teals, dabbling, and many other species, wearing special blinking control helmets on their heads quacking loudly in the childrens ears. They flew around the classrooms pecking at the children. Zim was riding on the swarm of ducks.

"Ah ,ha,ha,ha,ha!" Zim laughed boasting his laughter through the hallways. "With my army of hungry ducks, nothing will stop me from conquering the world, nothing!"

"Not so fast, space-boy!" Dib screamed.

"Ah, Dib, it's about time you show up to witness my ingenious plan. I like to see you face the wrath of my little feathered monsters!"

"Let's see how you duckies like this!" Dib said holding out a piece of toast.

"The piece of toast from this morning, now that's not fair!" Zim protested.

"That's not all, alien, the piece of toast is covered with slugs and snails. The ducks' greatest weakness!"

"No, don't!" Zim warned but Dib showed the ducks the treat, and rocket launched it out of the skool. The ducks flew out of the skool to get the piece of toast dragging Zim along.

"Curse you, Dib, curse you!" Zim screamed as he flew away into the sky.

Dib's classmates saw how he defeated the duck riding alien, and cheered for him.

* * *

When life gives you lemons, unleash the wrath of hostile duckies.


	29. That Sick, Twisted, Fuzzy Feeling

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 29: That Sick, Twisted, Fuzzy Feeling

"Ow," Dib peeped to Zim elbowing him in the gut. "Why did you do that for?"

"You ruin everything!" Zim shouted walking away.

"What exactly did I ruin?" Dib asked annoyed.

"Barging into my room so you can get my stupid laser gun," Zim ranted, then stopped and turned around. "I was close, this close!" Zim said measuring the closeness with his fingers. Dib studied the measurement, and then it dawned on him.

"With Mary?"

"Yes!"

"Zim, you could have told me to go away." Dib said while walking beside him.

"No, the moment was spoiled the first time you knocked on my door!"

"Geez, sorry Zim." Dib said then put his hand on his shoulder. "But, don't get discouraged. I'm sure you'll get another chance."

"You think?" Zim asked him.

"Sure, she knows you're an alien now, the rest should be easy." Dib said confidently.

"Easy, how?" Zim said confused.

"You'll see." Dib said turning the door knob to his house. Zim growled at him and walked into the Membrane residence. There on the couch, was Prof. Membrane awaiting their arrival.

"Ah, I see that my Sons have finally arrived." Prof. Membrane greeted them.

"Good to see you too, Membrane," Zim spoke. "Was the project a success?"

"Yes, it was!" Prof. Membrane exclaimed standing up. "In fact they are planning to use our research in every garbage company in America!"

"Good to hear, so what is it that you need to talk to me about?" Zim asked.

"Actually, it concerns both of you." Prof. Membrane said then sat down in his arm chair.

"How does it concern me?" Dib asked his father. "I didn't do anything."

"If that's the case, then would you please explain why your saliva sample was in your teacher's stomach?"

"Oh, that," Dib said surprised that his father found out about the spitting in coffee incident. "Ummmmm…."

"Ah ha ha ha ha!" Zim laughed at this outcome.

"I wouldn't be laughing," Prof. Membrane scolded Zim. "It was your spit that made your teacher sick. Would you mind explaining what happened?"

"Alright, I'll admit it." Dib said. "We spat in Mr. Holic's coffee cup."

"Now, why did you boys found it necessary to spit in your teacher's coffee?" Prof. Membrane asked shaking his head in disappointment.

"Because he was being a jerk." Dib stated. "He gave Zim and me extra homework for no apparent reason."

"Uhh…." Zim chimed in. "Just for the record, this was all Dib's idea."

"What? Don't double cross me!" Dib threatened.

"He spat in the cup first before I got involved, so am I off the hook?"

"No, you're still much involved in this."

Zim looked over at Dib who was glaring at him for tattling. Zim smiled at Dib and said. "It was worth a shot." Zim directed his attention to Prof. Membrane. "So is Mr. Holic dead?"

"No, he's still alive. It took us weeks to figure out what was wrong with him. Eventually, I found your DNA, Zim, as the link to your teacher's ailment and destroyed it. All week I had to listen to that man's complaining. Telling me I was insufficient, that I didn't know what I was doing and wasn't doing it properly. I'm Professor Membrane, Man of Science! Don't tell me I'm not doing my job right!" Prof. Membrane screamed angrily pacing around the living room.

"Dib," Zim whispered. "Your Dad is very angry."

"Give him time to vent." Dib whispered back.

"Boys!" Prof. Membrane snapped at them. "That man is evil which is why I understand why you did it however I still have to punish you for the inconvenience of pumping your teacher's stomach. Dib, I noticed you have neglected the chores around here while I was away."

Prof. Membrane paused for a moment to look around the living room covered with glasses and plates on the coffee table and soda cans littering the living room floor.

"This place is a complete piggie sty! I want you to clean this whole house from top to bottom, dishes, laundry, mowing and more and Zim, you're going to help."

"What? I'm not going to touch this filth-hole!" Zim exclaimed his protest.

"It's only fair since it was you that made your teacher sick, unless you would like me to explain to him what really made him sick?"

"On second thought," Zim retracted his statement. "Cleaning would be a fair punishment."

"Good, here's your list." Prof. Membrane said handing Dib a piece of notebook paper. "Daughter, ready to go?"

Gaz ran downstairs to her father's command.

"Ready, Dad." Gaz said putting on her jacket.

"Where are you guys going?" Dib asked glancing at both of them.

"We are going out to watch a movie." Prof. Membrane said.

"How come she's going, she didn't do her chores either." Dib complained.

"And that is why your list is longer, let's go Daughter. Don't want to miss the previews." Prof. Membrane said walking out of the house with Gaz.

"Typical, Gaz always gets away with everything!" Dib complained some more.

"Yeah, she's a clever one. Let's me see what your father wants us to do." Zim said snatching the list out of Dib's hands. Zim read the twelve listed bullets of chores he wanted done. The list included cleaning the dishes, kitchen, mopping and vacuuming, picking up the living room, mowing the yards even dusting Membrane's lab. Zim started becoming frustrated by all the stuff he had to do.

"This is ridiculous!" Zim screamed. "I can't believe I have to help you clean this place! This is your fault!" Zim pointed at him.

"Again with the blaming, quit complaining and help me. The sooner we are done, the better." Dib said swatting away his finger.

"Fine, I'll mow the lawn. It's an easier task then cleaning dishes, all that water!" Zim shuddered.

"Okay, I'll clean the kitchen and bathroom, but you have to pick up the living room and garbage around the house."

"Sure." Zim agreed.

"And I'll do the laundry if you mop the kitchen floor and vacuum." Dib added.

"Fine, I rather risk a burn from moping than touch your guys' unmentionables."

"Then after we are done cleaning the house, we'll tackle Dad's lab together. It's pretty messy down there. Sounds good?"

"No…" Zim disagreed.

"Well, you're still doing it."

"Dang." Zim complained walking out of the living into the garage to grab the lawn mower. Zim mowed the front yard while Dib started up the washer. Dib noticed his Dad's dirty laundry consist of lab coats. Just lab coats from the nights he spend sleeping at his lab downtown.

"Geez, Dad do you ever wear anything but lab coats? Do you ever wear any pants under these coats or even…" Dib stated and thought of something awkward in his mind. "I don't want to know."

Dib loaded up the washer, turned it on and went into the living and gathered all the dishes to prepare to wash. He had six piles he had to clean manually because his Dad didn't get around to fixing the dishwasher. After cleaning the last fork, he wiped off the counters and table and he was done cleaning the kitchen. He walked back out into the living room and spotted Zim sitting on the couch drinking a can of poop cola.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a break, I already mowed the lawn." Zim said then took a sip of his soda.

"Did you mow the back?" Dib asked.

"No…" Zim said.

"Get back out there and finish your job." Dib demanded.

Zim sighed angrily as he slammed his soda on the coffee table, got up and went outside again. He dragged the mower from the front into the back and finished mowing. When Zim returned, he noticed Dib was getting ready to tackle the bathroom wearing pink rubber gloves, holding toilet bowl cleaner in his right and all purpose spray in his left.

"The kitchen's almost done; all you have to do is mop it. I'll be back in a minute." Dib said then went upstairs. Zim rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen, swept it first and mopped the floor as quickly as possible to avoid exposure to the water. He dumped the dirty water carefully down the drain and put the bucket and mop away in the kitchen's closet. He walked into the living and watched Dib pick up empty cans of soda off the table and floor throwing them in a plastic black sack. Dib noticed Zim staring at him.

"Zim, don't just stand there, help me pick-up." Dib ordered him. Zim spotted some newspapers on the floor next to the end table and threw them into the garbage sack.

"Are we going to recycle these?" Zim asked.

"Yeah, this stuff is mostly recyclable."

"Good, cause I don't want to destroy the planet with garbage if I'm going to be living on it."

"You can't destroy Earth with garbage. Not anymore since Dad created those massive garbage eating worms."

"Hmmm…I guess you're right." Zim said then picked up the last remaining can on the rug and threw it in the bag. When Dib was sorting the recycling bin outside, Zim was inside vacuuming around the house. When they were finished, they stared at the clean living room pleased.

"Looks great," Zim said happily. "Are we done yet?"

"Nope," Dib said looking at the remaining item on the list. "We have one last room to clean. Dad's lab."

They walked downstairs into Prof. Membrane's lab. They looked around and saw it was a complete mess. There was cobwebs and dust all over his tools and unsorted piles of scrap metals covering the floor.

"This place is already dusty." Dib said amazed. "He only was gone for three weeks."

"Whatever, Let's get this over with." Zim said grabbing a rainbow colored fuzzy duster, dusting Prof. Membrane's work bench. Dib nodded and began sorting scrap metals off his father's floor and putting them in a specific bin his father labeled. Dib looked over at Zim who was dusting a screw driver.

"Zim,"

"What, Dib?"

"I'm sorry." Dib said. Zim stopped dusting and looked at Dib.

"For what?" Zim asked curious about Dib's apology.

"Last Monday after gym class when I said-"

"Oh, that," Zim said remembering. "There is no need to apologize because you were right, I was screwing myself. I should be thanking you, now Mary knows who I really am and she's alright with it." Zim stared at the hand that touched her cheek and noticed he forgot to put his glove back on. He remembered the sensation of her cheek on his hand. Then he removed his other glove, put them in his pocket and looked back at his hands. "In fact she was so accepting of me, I even let her touch my antennas. I got to hear her heartbeat."

"No way!" Dib said shocked.

"Uh-huh!"

"I didn't know your antennas could do that!" Dib said intrigued.

"Me neither, until she touched them."

"I got to try this for myself." Dib said coming towards Zim.

"What do you think you are- No, Dib, get away from me!" Zim screamed while Dib grabbed the wig off his head. Dib chased Zim around Prof. Membrane's lab until Dib got him cornered. Zim was about to punch him until Dib grabbed his left antenna.

"Oww! Quit it!" Zim screamed when Dib yanked on it.

"What does my heartbeat sound like, Zim, come on, tell me?" Dib said excited.

"It sounds like a heartbeat you crazy giant, now let go of me!" Zim demanded. Dib released his antenna. Zim rubbed the tender spot around his left antenna. Dib laughed.

"Sorry, Zim, I guess I got a little over excited."

"Over excited?" Zim questioned Dib's actions. "Mary was excited too but at least she was gentle. You, you were being a bully. Maybe I should take more growth hormones, grow six foot two like you and then, then…"

"Then, what?" Dib smirked.

"I don't know, but it would have been something awful!" Zim supposedly threatened.

"One good thing about being human, we have growth spurts over you, Irken." Dib said while smiling. Zim snatched his wig out of Dib's hand and put it back on his head. Then he continued dusting Prof. Membrane's tools. Dib chuckled and sorted the scrap metal into neat little piles. He placed them in the correct spot and they were done. It took about thirty minutes to clean Membrane's lab but they were finally done. Zim went into the living room to finish the rest of his soda that he forgot on the coffee table while Dib checked on the laundry. Dib joined Zim in the living room carrying a can of soda. They sat on the couch and turned on the T.V.

"I can't believe I had to work on my day-off." Zim muttered.

"Shut up." Dib said to his complaining. "You pretty much had your own mini vacation with all the skool you skipped."

"That's right, which reminds me, I should probably collect all the skool work I missed, huh?"

"I would if you want to keep your grades up."

"Yes, I wouldn't want to ruin my perfect 2.5 GPA." Zim smirked.

"Nice," Dib said sarcastically.

"I know, it was better than last year's." Zim said pleased by his success in skool. Dib clicked the remote to another channel and watched a documentary about giraffes. The front door swung open. It was Prof. Membrane and Gaz returning from the movie theater.

"Hello, boys," Prof. Membrane said politely feeling rejuvenated. "Did you manage to complete the list?"

"Almost everything, the last load of laundry is in the dryer." Dib informed his father.

"Excellent, I see you boys did a superb job cleaning the place, now I feel better about giving you kids your surprise. Behold!" Prof. Membrane said pulling out of his lab coat's pocket three new cell phones.

"We get new phones, alright!" Dib said removing himself from the couch. Zim watched as Prof. Membrane gave Gaz and Dib their new cell phones. Zim went back to watching T.V. while Gaz and Dib fiddled with their new toys.

"This is awesome! Thanks Dad!" Dib said.

"You're welcome; you earned it for doing so well in skool." Prof. Membrane said then looked over at Zim who was sitting on the couch. "Zim, you get a cell phone too."

"I do?" Zim said surprised.

"Of course, I looked at your recent report card and you have improved dramatically." Prof. Membrane said. Zim walked up to Membrane and he handed Zim his new red cell phone. Zim pressed the button on the casing and the screen lit up showing the various icons buttons on the screen. Zim smiled in glee.

"This is neat! Thanks, Membrane!" Zim said happily in fact he was so happy that he hugged him. Prof. Membrane was caught off guard by his embraced. He looked down at the alien that was hugging him.

"Whoa, now, well, where did that come from?" Prof. Membrane said. Zim realized what he did and let go.

"Not quite sure, sorry…" Zim said embarrassed. Dib smiled and laughed at his father's confused expression.

"Oh, don't mind him Dad; Zim's just having a good day." Dib said laughing.

"Why is that?"

"Because Mary knows Zim's an alien."

"And she didn't runaway afraid of his appearance?"

"Nope,"

"Wonderful, then there is hope for the human race, yet!" Prof. Membrane said walking to his lab. "Your cell phone numbers and mine are already programmed on the phones so you kids have fun; I have some catching up to do."

"I wonder what I can do on this thing." Zim said pressing the screen button. Then a screen appeared saying he received a text. Curious by the text, Zim chose to open it. It read.

'You hugged my dad, lol, wtf, Zim.'

"Quiet You!" Zim said punching Dib in the arm. Dib laughed after being punched.

* * *

After she was done with her homework, Mary sat on her bed and held her pillow on her knees and rested her head upon it. She was thinking of Zim. She looked over at the white board she turned around earlier showing the side in which Zim and her doodled on. She remembered how much fun they had and how he laughed. She smiled, and then blushed.

"I can't stop thinking about him." Mary said hugging her pillow. "I'm so in love with him regardless if he's from another planet or not. It's just something about him that makes me so…"

Mary lost track about what she was saying and sat off her bed. She went up to her white board and picked up a green marker. She popped off the cap and began drawing two big round circles across from each other, and then she drew two long lines horizontal to each circle. She drew a square connecting the lines and the circles forming a face. Then she drew a shy little smile.

"What am I doing!" Mary exclaimed. She was about to erase the drawing until she heard a knock on her door. It was her father.

"Hey, honey, can I come in?" Her father called to her.

"Of course, Dad." Mary said to her father. Her father opened the door and greeted his daughter.

"Now what are you up to?" Prof. Weylin said staring at the marker in her hand. Then at the drawing his daughter created.

"What is that?" He asked sneering at the doodle.

"Just a little alien…" Mary answered her father awkwardly.

"Very cute, Mary," Prof. Weylin said sarcastically. "Speaking of aliens, your mother called again."

"Oh," Mary said fidgeting with the marker.

"I don't know exactly what happened to make you two so mad at each other but I'm tired of being stuck in the middle. I would like it if you two would talk it out. She sounds like she's really sorry." Prof. Weylin sincerely asked her daughter. Mary looked up at her father, and then nodded.

"Okay, I'll talk to her." Mary finally gave in.

"Thank you, do you know her number?" Prof. Weylin asked.

"No," Mary responded.

"I think it's in the address book next to the phone in the kitchen." Prof. Weylin said searching his memory. "Alright, I'll be in my lab. Let me know if you need anything."

"Okay, Dad." Mary said while he was walking out of her room, and then returned to her door.

"I want to let you know I'm proud of you, you're being very mature about this."

"I know, Dad, I had to eventually." Mary said. Prof. Weylin nodded and went downstairs to his lab area. Mary sighed and went downstairs to the kitchen to call her mother on the land line. She found the address book on the kitchen table and flipped through the pages until she saw her mother's phone number. Mary picked up the phone and dialed her number. She pressed her ear to the phone awaiting her to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, mom, it's me, Mary."

"Hi, sweetie, how you doing?"

"Good, you?"

"Just splendid, listen, I just want to say that I'm sorry about what happened last January."

"Oh," Mary sighed in the phone, and then said, "I'm sorry about what happened too."

"It's alright, sweetie, after all, you didn't know aliens don't have feelings."

Mary paused confused by her mother's statement and asked, "What did you say?"

"I didn't know you would feel so bad about the alien. I should have mentioned that earlier at the convention. Aliens don't feel pain; their bodies are too advanced to recognize the sensation. It may have looked like he was suffering but he was perfectly fine."

Mary stood there in disbelief what her mother was trying to do. Making up excuses for the way she treated Skoodge, but Mary knew better. She remembered seeing Skoodge's burn marks on his arms and holding the scared alien in her arms when they briefly escaped. Her mind flashbacked to what happened earlier when she held Zim as he hid away his tears, then to Zim's reason why he didn't tell her about his true identity about him being afraid, and Mary believed him now why he was so scared. He was afraid of ignorance, ignorant people that would run away or hurt him knowing his secret, but her mother was the worst kind of ignorance. She was the kind of ignorance that would cause pain regardless of what the being feels, whether it was human or alien. She heard her mother calling her name.

"Mary, Mary, are you there?" Her mother spoke. Fueled with anger from her mother's words, Mary quickly took the phone back to her face and screamed.

"Aliens don't feel pain? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard! Mom, I hate you!"

Mary slammed the phone furiously down on the kitchen table, she stood there stunned, bewildered by what she said then recognized what she was feeling. Freedom, it felt so good. It felt so relieved to finally say those words at long last and once more it felt so good to stand up for Skoodge and Zim, the aliens that supposedly, according to her mother, had no feelings whom showed her nothing but kindness. To Skoodge thanking her kindness for giving the Striking Gem to Zim who hugged her and let touch his antenna. Then she remembered the affection she felt when Zim ran his fingers through her hair. Her heart grew heavy, placed her hand where it ached in her chest, then she swore.

"Zim, I'll protect you," Mary said out loud and blushed. "Gosh, that sounded silly."

Mary laughed awkwardly and walked back upstairs to her room.

* * *

Zim awoke from the sound of his alarm. Zim smacked the alarm off and pushed himself out from bed. He wearily rubbed his right eyelid and yawned. It was Friday morning.

"Uhhh… Why did I agree to go back to skool on a Friday? Usually people skip these days."

Then he remembered who he was waking up for and stood out of bed. He quickly got dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast. He walked into the kitchen, found his books and backpack on the table and the kitchen's chair. He scooped his books into his backpack, prepared lunch and put that in his backpack as well, and then he popped two slices of bread in the toaster and sat at the kitchen table waiting for breakfast. Gir walked into the kitchen amazed to see his master up this early. Gir walked up to him. Feeling his presence, Zim looked over his shoulder and saw Gir staring up at him.

"Master, you going to skool?" Gir asked him.

"Yes,"

"Why?"

"Because I promised Mary that I would." Zim said. Gir wooed in wonder by his explanation.

"Master, do you loooove, Mary-Moo- Cow?" Gir asked him curiously. Zim turned away embarrassed by his question.

"Come on, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me!" Gir repeated over and over again through breakfast. Zim twitched his eyeball annoyed by his robot's meddling.

"Yes, I do!" Zim snapped at him. "Now, would you please stop bugging me?"

"Heh, heh, I knew it." Gir said happily skipping out of the kitchen. Zim shook his head and ate the last piece of his toast. It was time to go, Zim was about to walk out of his house when he realized he wasn't wearing his contacts or wig.

"Heh, that was close," Zim said walking upstairs to his room to put on his disguise. He chose not to wear the gloves today. He went back downstairs again and out the door towards the bus stop. During his walk, he wondered what would have happened if he did go out without his disguise. He wondered if anyone would care or even look at him twice, he thought it would be great if they didn't. He spotted Dib and Gaz at the stop and walked up to them.

"Hey, how's it going," Zim said to Dib and Gaz.

"Fine," Gaz said. "Going to skool to see your girlfriend?"

"Who told you?" Zim interrogated pointing at her, then retracted his finger and calmly stated. "I mean, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Oh, but you admit you have someone in mind." Gaz smirked at him.

"No, no, stop messing with me!" Zim demanded annoyed.

"That's enough, Gaz, Zim's not in the right state of mind to handle your games." Dib said. "His mind is focused on going back to skool to see Mary."

"No, it's not!" Zim denied. "Ah, why is everyone bugging me about her? First, it was Gir and now it's you two. Why can't anyone leave me alone?"

"Well," Dib said. "We would leave you alone if you finally grow some balls to ask her out on a date, until then, you are at target for ridicule."

"Oh, I see, now I have become a laughing stock to you all!" Zim screamed. "Just wait, one day I will ask her out and then who would be the laughing stock?"

"Not you," Dib smirked at him.

"Exactly," Zim said crossing his arms feeling victorious. Dib and Gaz just snickered at him. Their bus pulled up to the stop and they boarded. They sat to the back away from any suspicious person possibly handing out fliers to convert them to their religion. Dib tugged on the cord when he saw their skool, the bus stopped and they boarded off. They walked into the skool yard. Zim saw some of his classmates sitting outside the entrance chatting to their friends while others were playing keep away with another person's backpack. Nothing has changed since the three days he was absent. Zim walked into skool with his technical siblings and looked around the crowded hallways. Gaz walked away from her brothers. Dib and Zim walked towards their first period class.

"So, I heard from my Dad that Mr. Holic is returning today." Dib said.

"Ooohh," Zim moaned. "Really, why did I have to return today?"

"Hi, Zim." Mary called out to him. She was five lockers away from him. Zim spotted her and smiled. Mary smiled too, walked to him and hugged him. "Welcome back," Mary said while hugging him. Zim blushed surprised by her embrace.

"That's why." Dib said pointing to Mary, "See ya in first period. Don't be late."

Dib walked away while leaving Zim puzzled by Mary's hug. Mary let go and smiled at him.

"Why did you just hug me, right then?" Zim asked.

"Why, you said I can hug you anytime I like, I just wanted to see if that was true, unless you don't want me too," Mary sadly said. "Because I'll stop if you don't like it."

"No, no, I like them a lot, I was a little surprised by it," Zim admitted. Mary pepped up and smiled at him once more.

"That was a surprise hug." Mary told him.

'Gosh, she's so cute!' Zim thought then removed himself from his thought bubble.

"So, you're naming our hugs?" Zim asked her.

"Yep, that's right," Mary said happily.

"Then, what did you call the one we shared in my bedroom?" Zim asked her slyly.

"Ummm," Mary mumbled nervously, "I haven't figured out a name for that one."

"Okay," Zim peeped. "Guess what, Prof. Membrane gave me a cell phone."

Zim pulled out his new red colored cell phone out of his pants' pocket to show Mary.

"Cool," Mary said looking at it. "What's your number?"

"Let me see," Zim said trying to find his number on the cell. "Oh, it's this right here,"

"Okay," Mary said pulling out her cell phone to copy down his new number under his name. "Wow, your phone looks so neat,"

"I know, I can even take pictures, which poses a question, can I take your picture?" Zim asked.

"Why do you want to take my picture?" Mary asked him.

"Because I want to." Zim bluntly stated.

"I'm not what you call picture perfect," Mary refused Zim politely reminded of all the bad pictures taken of her in the past.

"Oh, come on, you have a picture of me at least let me get a picture of you." Zim whined to her. Mary thought for a moment and nodded.

"Okay, sure, but don't be disappointed if it turns out bad."

"How can it turn out bad if you're in it?" Zim said then held the phone a couple of inches away from his face. He found the perfect frame of her in the camera. He saw her stand awkwardly leaning on the lockers. "Okay, smile,"

Mary smiled shyly to his command; Zim stared at the camera image then back at her.

"Hmmm, I think there's something missing." Zim said.

"Like what?" Mary asked. Zim thought of it. He went aside of Mary and wrapped his arm on her right shoulder and knelt his head close to hers. Mary looked over at Zim as he held the phone in front of them seeing their image on the screen.

"Okay, now smile." Zim said. Mary looked back at the phone. Both Mary and Zim smiled and he pressed the button to snap the photo. Then he pulled the photo up on his phone and showed Mary. "See, you had nothing to worry about, you look great in this picture."

"Yeah, you look great too." Mary said glances away blushing.

"How about I send it to you?" Zim suggested. "What's your number again?"

"It's this," Mary said sending her number via texting. Zim got the message on his phone and looked at it. The text had a smiley face in it.

"Oh, got it," Zim said then remembered he had to get to first period. "We better get going to class, see you later."

"Okay, bye," Mary said walking into her classroom while Zim ran to his. He ran into Mr. Holic's classroom. He glanced around the classroom quickly at his classmates, no sign of his teacher, Zim sighed relieved.

"Maybe he decided not to come." Zim spoke out loud and started walking to his seat. Then the bell rang. The light fixtures began to flicker. The lights grew dimmer that made Zim stop in his tracks. He looked at Dib whose eyes were fixated on the shadowy figure forming behind him. Feeling the presence of the unknown figure, Zim slowly turned around cautiously and saw the angry scowl of Mr. Holic, which startled him.

"Ahhhh!" Zim screamed.

"Stop screaming and take your seat!" Mr. Holic demanded, and then walked over to the light switches. "I see they still haven't fixed the damn lights." He turned off the set of lights with the flashing light beams. Zim hurried to his desk and sat down as Mr. Holic walked to the front of his classroom. He glared around the room studying his students' wide-eyed expressions of finally witnessing their teacher's return.

"Nobody's absent?" Mr. Holic said quickly startling his students. "Good, I been absent, absent for weeks and I know it must have been one of you that gave me that horrible stomach flu! So please, tell me who made me sick, don't be shy, you won't get in trouble."

Zim stood silent like the rest the kids in the class confused by Mr. Holic's accusations. Zim felt his left pants pocket vibrate. It was a text on his cell phone. Zim carefully took the phone out of his pocket and viewed the text. It was from Dib. 'Don't do it! It's a trick!'

'I know that.' Zim texted back and stuck the phone back in his pocket before his teacher got suspicious.

"Nobody wants to fess up?" Mr. Holic asked them once more. He looked around the quiet expressionless faces of his students and sighed. "Maybe it was second period, okay, as you already know I have been absent for weeks and I'm sure you all been enjoying my absence."

"No, sir," One girl said. "I was hoping you feel better."

"Quiet you!" Mr. Holic shouted at her. "Nobody likes a suck-up!"

"Eh ah ha ha," The girl cried and ran out of the room.

"Anyways," Mr. Holic continued not shaken up by the girl's outburst. "I hope you been learning and didn't get lazy while I was gone because in two weeks to this day, you will all be taking your Third Quarter Exam!"

His students groaned to the news of the upcoming test while Zim squirmed in horror.

"Wait a minute!" Zim protested. "I thought Third Quarter didn't end until April?"

"That used to be the case last year until the skool bored decided to end the skool year at the beginning of June so third and fourth quarters are going to be ending sooner." Mr. Holic explained. Zim slowly sank in the situation as Mr. Holic addressed the rest of his students.

"Mrs. Looker informed me that you were to finish the rest of chapter 30 for homework last night so hand them over." Mr. Holic commanded them. Zim raised his hand while his peers handed their papers to the designated table to the corner of the classroom.

"What is it now?" Mr. Holic asked irritated.

"Sir, I can't turn in the assignment. I have be-"

"Why not?" Mr. Holic screamed at him. "Were you slacking off!"

"No, sir, I was absent for three days, I been sick." Zim explained.

"So, I was sick for two weeks and I was kept to speed what was happening in my own classroom, why didn't you ask your brother what needed to be done?"

"My brother?" Zim questioned him, and then remembered what he meant. "Oh, you mean Dib; you know what, that never occurred to me."

"Ahhhh," Mr. Holic sighed angrily. "I should let you not make up the assignments just because your lack of common sense, but the skool requires me to give you two days. Have them in by Monday. I'm sure Dib will tell you what needs to be done."

"Yes, sir, thank you!" Zim said and focused on the chalkboard where Mr. Holic began his lesson. When Mr. Holic was finished teaching his lesson, Zim bugged Dib about the chapter work he missed in class. Dib wrote all the chapters he missed during his absences and Zim's jaw dropped when he viewed it. He missed chapters 25 through 30.

"I'm totally behind!" Zim shouted.

"Yeah, that's what you get for skipping." Dib said. The bell rang, and it time for second period. Zim asked Mr. Millmere if he missed anything important in gym class he needed to make up. Mr. Millmere shrugged his shoulders, said they were playing basketball and didn't need to make up anything. Zim was happy to hear that and joined in the activities. When Zim went to third period, Mrs. Fletcher said they started reading a new book, needed him to read six chapters and write a summary of each chapter. After Mrs. Fletcher's class, Zim was feeling down on how much homework he had to do over the weekend.

"Five chapters math and six chapters of reading and I have complete them by Monday? At this rate I'll be doing homework all weekend. I guess I should have seen this coming when I decided to skip." Zim said walking his locker collecting the books for his next classes. Zim collected the books he needed and slammed the ones he used into it and shut it closed.

"Frustrated?" Someone spoke. Zim looked over to his left and saw Mary was standing next to him witnessing him abusing his books.

"YES, so much homework!" Zim complained.

"Well, at least you have this weekend to catch up." Mary said. "By the way, I haven't received that photo yet."

"Photo, oh yeah," Zim remembered and took his cell phone out of his pocket. "I forgot to send it to you." Zim looked at the screen of him and Mary smiling together in the shot. Zim smiled at the picture and then looked over at Mary who was waiting on her phone for it.

"On second thought, I'm not sending it to you." Zim said smiled evilly at her.

"Why not?" Mary asked confused.

"Because I want to keep this all to myself, mwa ha ha ha ha!" Zim laughed evilly.

"Ummmm…" Mary mumbled awkwardly. "That's okay; you don't have to give it to me."

Mary began to walk away while Zim stood there stunned by her lack of persistence.

"What, that's it?" Zim asked her. "You're not going to argue me for it?"

"Why would I do that?" Mary asked looking back at him.

"Because you totally want it."

"Sure, but not that badly," Mary said walking away from Zim to the cafeteria. Zim followed her.

"Human, haven't heard of the saying, if you want something you have to fight for it?" Zim asked her.

"What does it have to do with a digital picture?" Mary asked annoyed.

"Are you willing to fight for Zim?" Zim blankly asked her. Mary turned around and saw Zim staring challenging her response. Mary walked towards him, stood in front of him and looked him straight in the eyes. Zim was shocked to see how close Mary was, felt weak and gazed into her eyes as well. Mary saw this as her opportunity to snatch the phone out of Zim's hand. Mary ran away holding Zim's cell phone into the cafeteria. Zim chased her.

"Gimme back my phone!" Zim screamed. Zim charged into the cafeteria and searched the crowd for the mischievous red head and found her standing by their table where Dib, Josh, Brian and Tina were sitting watching Mary typing on the red phone. Zim ran to her and snatched his phone back.

"Got it and just before you could even send the picture to your phone." Zim said pleased.

"That's when you're wrong." Mary told him showing the picture of her and Zim on her cell phone's background.

"Wow, you're quick; I guess you can fight for something if provoked." Zim said astonished.

"Only if it's worth fighting for." Mary said gently smiling at him. Zim smiled back at her and looked over at his group of friends.

"So…" Zim said to them. "What's going on?"

"Zim, the real question is where the hell you were this week?" Tina asked the question that was clouding everyone's minds. Zim chuckled and sat down at their table.

"I was sick." Zim stated. Mary sat next to him.

"He was sick alright; His eyes were puffy and red." Mary teased him.

"She's lying!" Zim quickly denied. "I had the chicken pox."

"Now, who's the one lying?" Mary continued to taunt. Zim looked over at Mary who was smiling slyly at him as he met the same expression. They were ready to play.

"Trying to be clever and cute, I see." Zim said.

"Who says I was trying to be cute?" Mary responded.

"Don't flatter yourself." Zim said looking away. When Mary caught his glance, Zim smiled a bit breaking his anger persona.

"I'm so sorry, Zim," Mary said sweetly playing sympathetic. "Is there any way you can forgive me?"

"I am willing to overlook your behavior if you come over later and help me with my math homework." Zim sternly reasoned to her.

"I'll see what I can do." Mary told him and brought out her packed lunch out of her backpack. Zim started eating his sandwich while Tina and Brian stared at them trying to comprehend what had happened while Dib snickered after watching their game. Brian bends over to Tina's ear.

"I'm confused." Brian whispered. "Are they dating or something?"

"I can't tell." Tina replied then looked at over at Josh. "What do you think?"

Josh stared over at Zim who was eating the remaining crust of his sandwich and glared at him.

"Josh?" Tina questioned. Josh didn't respond to her. "Earth to Josh, answer me!"

"Huh, what?" Josh said suddenly, and then remembered the question. "I don't know, but something has to give…"

Brian and Tina shrugged their shoulders confused by Josh's statement and continued to eat their lunch. Josh continued to stare at Zim while Zim was busy stealing one of Mary's cookies out of her lunch bag.

"Hey, give those back." Mary demanded as Zim took a bite of one of her cookies.

"Nooo…They are way too delicious to return." Zim said holding the bag away from her. Josh looked over at Zim's green hand and saw they were oddly shaped with three fingers. No fingernails. Josh glared at him and stood up.

"Josh, what's wrong?" Tina asked her boy friend, but he didn't answer her. Josh grabbed his backpack and walked away. Tina stood up and followed him. Mary looked down hurt that Zim stole her cookies. Zim saw her sad appearance and gave them back.

"There you are, Mary, sorry about that, I only wanted one." Zim said then patted her head.

"I would have given you one if you asked." Mary said.

"I know, I was being selfish." Zim stated and chuckled to her. Zim looked over at his friends and saw two were missing.

"Hey, where did Josh and Tina go?" Zim asked.

"I don't know," Dib said. "Josh stood up and walked away,"

"Maybe he had to use the bathroom?" Zim suggested.

"Nah, he's been like that all week, probably doing some more research for his website." Brian said.

"Yeah, they are probably gathering up information for their stories." Dib reasoned to Zim.

"That could be it." Zim nodded to their reasons.

After lunch, Zim continued to collect all his assignments he missed the last couple of days. He had three chapter works in history, a lab to complete in science and a few math sheets in his other math class.

"This is just too much!" Zim complained stomping through the hallways. "How am I supposed to get this stuff done by Monday?"

Zim walked to his locker and gathers all the books he needed to complete his homework and stuffed them in his bag. Then Mary approached him.

"Hey, Zim," Mary said then looked over at Zim who was stuffing his backpack full of books. "Need any help?"

"No, no," Zim said squeezing his final book into his backpack. "Almost…got it, there,"

Mary was profound that he was able to fit four textbooks into his backpack. Zim plopped his backpack onto his shoulders.

"That must be really heavy." Mary said.

"Not for an alien like me." Zim said.

"I see," Mary giggled. "So what time should I come over to tutor?"

"I have to work today so probably around seven."

"That's a good time for me; I have to volunteer after skool anyways."

"At the orphanage?" Zim asked.

"Uh-huh." Mary said while nodding.

"Hey, we should take the bus together, mine passes by there."

"Sure," Mary said. Zim closed his locker and was ready to join Mary until he saw Gretchen storming down the hallway while Dib was trying to catch up to her.

"Gretchen, please listen to me." Dib said grabbing her arm. Gretchen stopped, looked over at Mary, and then turned around. "I'm sorry I skipped our date, I had important family matter to-"

"Don't lie to me, Dib!" Gretchen screamed. "I saw you at the bus stop walking away with her!"

Gretchen said pointing to Mary. Mary and Zim were confused by Gretchen's accusations.

"Who, Mary?" Dib said confused. "No, she was part of the family matter, you see-"

"Since when is she family?" Gretchen asked.

"You're right, she isn't, but please allow me to explain. Mary asked me if Zim was feeling well because he missed a lot of skool and I didn't know so we decided to go to Zim's house together to see if he's okay, then my Dad returned home and I forgot, I totally forgot and I'm sorry." Dib tried to explain to her but she looked even angrier at him.

"I'm sorry, Gretchen," Mary said finally understanding her fault in the situation. "I didn't know you two had a date."

"Yes, don't be mad at Dib, it was my fault he had to check up on me." Zim interfered as well.

"Stay out of it, Zim; this has nothing to do with you!" She shouted at him then turned her direction towards Dib. "You know what? I don't know how much I can take of this."

"What are you trying to say?" Dib asked anxiously.

"I'm saying we're through!" Gretchen snapped at him and walked away.

"But, but," Dib stuttered and then shouted. "But I love you!"

Gretchen stopped hearing his confession and turned around and looked at Dib. Zim and Mary went silent staring at the two. Dib tried gently smiling at her but she scowled at him.

"Well, you have a funny way of showing it." Gretchen said coldly and walked away. After watching Gretchen leave, Zim glanced over at Dib wondering what he was thinking. Dib stood there frozen like his soul was ripped from his own body.

"Dib, you okay?" Zim asked.

"I'm going to my locker." Dib plainly spoke. "I have lots of…stuff to do."

Dib turned around and began to walk away. Zim became concerned over his broken friend.

"Aw man, he's denying what has happened to him, that's not a good sign." Zim spoke out loud.

"Maybe we should have the tutoring tomorrow?" Mary suggested.

"Yes, I think my friend is going to need my help tonight." Zim concluded. Mary nodded and they both walked to the bus stop. They waited for a while and during that wait, they decided to rearrange the study session to tomorrow at two. They boarded the metro when it arrived to their stop.

"Mr. Holic told us today that we have the Third Quarter Exam in two weeks and I'm so behind. I had no idea what he was talking about in class." Zim explained while they took their seats to the back of the bus across from a man. "I wish I didn't skip so many days, I just…"

Zim looked down and Mary rested her hand on his shoulder.

"It's okay, you'll catch up and I'll help you, there's nothing you need to worry about." Mary told him kindly.

"Thank you," Zim said looking back at her. Zim and Mary sat quietly at their seats. Zim looked over across from him and noticed a very sloppy middle aged man. He was wearing black slacks, a white long sleeve button up shirt and a loosely pulled tacky neck tie. He studied the face of the man, unshaved, messy brunet hair and glazed over eyes. He looked like he been out all night, then he smelled a hint of alcohol loathing over the man.

'I can smell it from here.' Zim thought, then he caught the man glaring at him and Zim looked away quickly.

"Hey!" The man snapped at Zim. "Wh-what's wrong with your head?"

Zim and Mary stared at the man asking him the opposing question.

"Ummm, what's wrong with your…" Zim said looking over the man's appearance. "Tie?"

The man looked at his tie that had patterns of dolphins on it.

"What?" The man answered hurt. "You don't like my tie? Cynthia liked my tie, Cynthia, why did have to leave me!"

"Okay, Mary," Zim said grabbing her hand. "Let's go over there."

They moved five seats forward towards the front. Zim and Mary took their new seats.

"Shouldn't we tell the bus driver that man is causing a nuisance?" Mary asked him, but Zim shook his head.

"No, that guy already has enough problems and I would like to make it to work on time than have the bus driver stop and kick him off the bus due to his temper tantrum."

"Alright," Mary agreed to his reason and went silent enjoying each other's company. Mary saw the orphanage coming up and pulled on the cord. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow at two."

"Okay, don't forget now," Zim said.

"I won't." Mary assured him and boarded off the bus. Mary saw Zim in the window and waved to him while he waved back as the bus drove away. Mary walked upon the side walk to the orphanage gate. She heard a snicker. She turned around thinking someone was behind her and just saw a dog. A green dog. Mary turned away, paused, and then turned back around at the dog. It was Gir.

"Gir," Mary said walking to the disguised robot. "What are you doing out here? Exploring around, where's Minimoose?"

"He's at home taking a nap. I snuck out to see you." Gir said and smiled at her.

"See me?" Mary said surprised. "What for and how did you know where to find me?"

"Heh, heh, heh," Gir giggled. "That's a secret. Speaking of them, I have one to tell you."

"A secret?" Mary acted excited, and then knelt down to Gir not expecting much from it. "What is it?"

"Zim loves you." Gir whispered to her. Mary knelt away from the robot astonished at what he told her. Mary stood and sadly crossed her arms looking away from Gir.

"I wish you didn't tell me that." Mary said in gloom.

"Why not," Gir asked confused. "Aren't you happy?"

"No, I don't want to hear it from you, Gir." Mary said annoyed at Gir and then turned away. "I would like it if he told me himself."

"Ohhhh," Gir chirped happily. "You like my master, don't you?"

"I'm not going to answer that." Mary said embarrassed. "Now, go home before Minimoose gets upset, you don't want to worry him too."

"Okay…" Gir said sounding disappointed by her reaction to his secret. Mary looked over at the sad robot and knelt down thinking of way to explain it better.

"Come here," Mary said kindly to Gir holding out her arms. Gir screamed happily and gave Mary a big hug. Mary looked Gir in his goggle like fish eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too Mary-Moo-Cow," Gir peeped happily. "You so sweet like skateboards, hockey and hotdogs."

"See," Mary said looking at him. "The words have a lot more meaning expressing it to the person one on one instead of playing telephone. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do! Do we make-out?" Gir said still hugging her. Mary let go of the strange robot and stood up.

"No making out." Mary scolded him. "Go home!"

"Okay dokey," Gir smirked and ran off. He started up the rocket boosters in him feet and flew off. Mary was left there questioning whether Gir was making things up or she should actually believe him.

* * *

It was night time when Zim finally returned to his neighborhood from his job. He yawned stretching his arms while he boarded off the bus.

"Almost home, then I can…do my homework." Zim said disappointed. "My weekend is ruined, shattered into little pieces! Why must this be?"

Zim walked home slowly not interested on what he had to do when he arrived. He passed by Dib's house and then remembers Dib's recent break-up with Gretchen. Earlier, Zim tried texting Dib, but he didn't respond.

"I gotta go check on him to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Zim muttered, then went up to his doorstep. Zim range the doorbell and Prof. Membrane opened the door.

"Ah, Zim," Prof. Membrane said. "Come in, I was just about to call you."

"Call me, what for?" Zim asked entering the house.

"We were planning to go out for dinner to celebrate my success, would you like to join us?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Sure," Zim said excited then recalled the heavy load on his back. "Can I leave my backpack here?"

"Of course, you would look silly going to a restaurant wearing that," Prof. Membrane pointed to his back. Zim nodded and dropped his load on their sofa. Zim looked over and noticed Gaz was on the other side of the cushion tapping her foot. She sighed angrily.

"Dib…" Gaz growled. "What's taking you so long?"

"Dib's coming too?" Zim asked surprised.

"Yes, of course he is. Why wouldn't he?" Prof. Membrane chuckled to Zim's odd question.

"I thought he wouldn't want to go since that happened to him." Zim said.

"Since what happened to him?" Prof. Membrane asked. Zim knew Dib didn't tell them.

"Oh nothing," Zim waved off avoiding having to explain things.

"Okay, well, could you go check on him to see if he's close to being ready?" Prof. Membrane asked.

Zim nodded to him and walked upstairs to Dib's room. He found Dib sitting on the foot of his bed, back away from his door.

"Hey," Zim said wearily as he entered Dib's room to see how he's recovering from his current break up with Gretchen. "How it going?"

"It's okay." Dib muttered quickly.

"Really?" Zim asked surprised.

"Yeah, just the only girl I truly loved dumped me, but that's okay."

"It is?" Zim said looking funny at him.

"Yes, because I realized and this what I realized. Everything I touch turns to crap!" Dib shouted standing up.

"What?"

"It's so simple, every time I try to achieve, every time I try to gain some sort of eternal happiness in my life, it turns to shit!" Dib ranted pacing around his room.

"Aren't you exaggerating a little bit?"

"You tell me, Zim, you tell me!" Dib shouted at him.

"Ummmm…" Zim hummed trying to think of something positive that affected his friend's life.

"Your hair," Zim stated. "It's always so cool looking. You been styling the same look for years and that didn't turn into shit."

Dib felt his long hair scythe.

"It is pretty cool, isn't it?" Dib questioned Zim slowly smiling.

"Yes," Zim agreed while nodding. "Also you made a lot of neat gadgets and you helped rebuild a space ship, a space ship; damn it and that didn't turn out horrible."

"I guess that's true." Dib said smiling and then frowned. "But I told her that I loved her and she dumped me."

"Maybe it wasn't meant to be. Besides, I didn't like her." Zim told him.

"What? I though you did? Why?"

"She was so emotional!" Zim explained his reason. "She's always seems to fly off the handle over the stupidest reasons. You need to date a more stable minded person." Zim advised him, but Dib shook his head.

"Dude, I'm not going to be dating any girl for a long time."

"Okay," Zim said. "Sounds alright to me, are you sure you gonna be okay because I don't want to leave this room, then hear you cry again."

"Like I was crying." Dib denied.

"Just saying."

"Yeah, I'll be okay."

"Good, we have been waiting for you. Grab your coat." Zim told him. Dib took his cloak off his bed and Zim screamed.

"Ahhhhh!"

"What?" Dib said startled dropping his coat.

"Your cloak! Your cloak! When you touched it, it magically turned into shit!" Zim pointed to his coat. Dib looked at his cloak and saw it lay there shitless.

"Very funny." Dib slightly smiled.

"Hey," Zim smirked. "What kind of friend would I be if I didn't kid with you about that? Let's go!"

Zim walked out of his room. Dib grabbed his cloak; put it on quickly as he ran downstairs to join his family.

Meanwhile in the other part of the city, Brian was walking into Josh's neighborhood. Brian wondered why Josh would call him over to his house so late in the night but he told him it was important and not to be discussed over the phone.

"I hope he doesn't think the government is out to get him again." Brian muttered as he walked up to Josh's house. He knocked on the door, and waited for someone to answer, it was Josh.

"Good, get inside quickly," Josh rushed Brian into his house. Brian saw his house hasn't changed a bit. Same old dozen of T.V. sets from Josh's dad work covering up the living room connected to video cameras while his father was on the couch, figuring them out.

"Hello Mr. Trewer, keeping yourself busy." Brian addressed Josh's father.

"Uh-huh." The man grunted while he was unscrewing a plugged in camcorder. He scratched his balding head and reached into his tool box.

"Brian enough chit chat, to my room, now!" Josh demanded.

"Okay, okay," Brian finally agreed and followed Josh to his room. "So what is it that you needed to tell me that you couldn't over the phone?"

"Brian, Zim is an alien."

* * *

Author's note: Da Da Dah! Saw that coming!


	30. Taking a Stand

Author note: Yep, another chapter. Sorry, it took so long. I had to sort out the chaos in my life before I could write about theirs. lol.

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 30: Taking a Stand

"Josh, what the hell are you talking about?" Brian asked his deranged friend.

"Zim is an alien from outer space!" Josh repeated.

"Again, Josh, what the hell are you talking about?" Brian asked once more.

"Okay, I know what I'm saying is crazy and-"

"Pretty freakin' crazy, man. Have you been sleeping well? Are you on drugs, you're on drugs, right?"

"No, I'm not on drugs and I am taking my medication thank you very much if that is your next question."

"Okay," Brian said sitting down on Josh's bed. "So why do you think Zim's an alien?"

"Think? I know, man. I been doing research on the supposedly government people that would come to our skool ever so often. Apparently, they are not from the government, they are an agency called 'The Swollen Eyeballs.'"

"And who are these Swollen Eyeball people?"

"They are an organization that investigates paranormal activity. They travel around the world solving unknown mysteries, creatures and places. Defending humanity by asking why. It says so on their website." Josh said pulling up the page on his computer's screen to show Brian. He studied the page with the spooky alien wall paper background.

"Ummmm…So why are these guys at our skool?" Brian asked.

"I dug deep into their database and discovered six years ago, an alien came to an elementary skool around here threatening to use our land birds for world domination until its plan was foiled by an ex-agent." Josh explained.

"This sounds crazy, why didn't they mention this on the news. I think I would have remembered birds trying to take over our skools." Brian asked.

"But it was, the media covered up saying it was a migration error due to confusion of the birds. It was all a big conspiracy!"

"Oh yeah, now I remember the news say something like that when I was a kid. My sisters thought they looked cute, but what does this have to do with Zim?"

"I investigated further into the database and found this." Josh said pulling up a file. The file had a few pictures of Zim with his disguise off and printed information in long, neat paragraphs. Brian studied the pictures of the alien in awe. "Does it remind you of somebody?"

"It kind of looks like…Zim." Brian said surprised.

"That's what I thought too." Josh said. "Then I remembered back when I created my student profiles for my websites, Zim had a very hazy past. It seems that he only existed in the skool computer system after fourth grade and it gets weirder, it listed that his father and mother's names were Steve and Sally, but when they died, they were dubbed Roomo and Fleta and in the police reports when they died, they had no social security cards or IDs. The only listed form of their identities was Zim's birth certificate that had their names on it. Why would they change their names to Steve and Sally, and then change them back again? Huh? Isn't that a little suspicious?"

"Maybe they had to change their names to protect their identities?"

"Then why haven't they changed Zim's?" Josh posed the question. Brian sat there stunned not knowing what to say. "I thought the same also and overlooked it when creating Zim's profile, until I found this webpage created by Agent Mothman. He says that the alien disguise himself as an ordinary skool kid claiming to have a skin condition. Have you heard of this same song before?"

"Zim says he has a skin condition."

"Right, one time I asked him about his condition he called 'Rythefungusmenavitas', I looked up the disease and it doesn't exist. It's totally made up. If that doesn't convince you then look at his skool year book picture and compare it to this one." Josh said taking his last year's book off his bookshelf and opened it showing a picture of Zim to Brian and a picture of the alien he printed out. "Notice the features, no ears or nose, his face. He's the same guy."

"So Zim really is an alien, and his really has red eyes and no hair?"

"Yea, I think he might be wearing a wig and or contacts, I'm not sure what kind of spooky alien gadgets he is using to disguise himself, but they aren't too advanced if he's walking around like that." Josh pointed out.

"Why is he here on this planet?"

"Simple Brian, he wants to conquer Earth for his race, the Irkens, it says so on the page. Zim wants to destroy mankind! He must be planning something big for all the years he has been here. He has to be stopped!"

"Josh, I don't think Zim is the kind of alien that could conquer anything. He seems like a harmless guy to me. Maybe he's one of those researching aliens that study the planet or something." Brian suggested.

"Wake up, Brian!" Josh shouted. "It's all a trick! He's been lying to everyone this whole time. That's how good he is. Read through Agent Mothman report. Would a harmless alien try to crash Mars into the Earth to squish all mankind and wipe it away from our solar system?"

"Well, that sunk my 'harmless alien researcher' theory." Brian said changing his mind.

"Yeah, and it wouldn't surprise me if he tricked Dib and his family to think he's a normal kid too."

"But, they known him for years, wouldn't Dib be smart enough to know Zim's an alien?"

"Not Dib," Josh smirked. "He's like the most naïve person I know. Zim could be using Professor Membrane's stuff secretly and he wouldn't know. The worst part about this situation is that he has Mary involved somehow."

"Mary," Brian questioned then agreed. "That's right, he does!"

"What is he doing to our friend?" Josh said shaking. "Using her for experiments or much worst, using her math skills to help him in his conquest without her knowing. Poor, Mary, she's gonna be very disappointed and frightened if she finds out he's an alien. It's too bad because I can tell she really likes him."

"Yes," Brian agreed. "It was obvious the way they were flirting at lunch."

"They were flirting?" Josh said.

"Y-yes." Brian stuttered. "Definitely flirting."

Josh paused for a moment disturbed by his phrase.

"Brian, do you think Zim might be using Mary as a…"

"Alien queen?" Brian and Josh shuttered the words then thought of every horror movie in which an alien would use a human host to bear its offspring.

"Ahhhhhh!" Brian screamed. "That's too freaky!"

"We have to stop him before he hurts her, us or anyone else before he could conquer the world!"

"But, how?" Brian asked. "Should he call the FBI or those Swollen Eyeballs people for help?"

"No, we have to take actions into our own hands; the problem with those agencies is that they need more evidence. The reason why the Swollen Eyeballs cannot capture Zim is because they are unable to link those two identities together after Agent Mothman closed the case. If we find a way to link them together and have him admit his plan and existence, we would have enough evidence to expose him."

"But, again how?" Brain repeated. "It's not like he's going to tell us his plan and if we do confront him, what if he turns into something horrible and tries to eat us, what do we do then?"

"I have an idea," Josh said entering his closet then picked up the foreign object. "Yes, this should stop that evil alien bastard."

The Next Day

"I'm gonna do my homework," Zim said entering from his front door into the living after a long day of work at Mart-Wall. He whistled happily into the kitchen where he spotted Gir sitting at the table playing tea party with Minimoose and Slippers. Slippers hopped around the table knocking over Gir's tea cup. Zim watched the bunny hop on his table.

"Gir, get that filthy monster off my table! That's where we eat!" Zim complained.

"But, he likes the table." Gir told his master.

"I don't care, put him away." Zim demanded. Gir screamed a high pitched squeal, picked up Slippers and ran upstairs while Minimoose chased them. Zim picked up the tea cups, placed them in the sink and cleaned up the mess so he would have a place to do his homework. He reached into his backpack, grabbed his English book, put it on the kitchen table. He looked up at the clock and saw it was one. About an hour to go before Mary would arrive. Zim smiled enthusiastic about her visit.

"I can't wait until she gets here, maybe I'll get to play with her hair." Zim said then imagined him stroking her long red locks again. "Or even kiss her, no, no must focus on studying but I can't help myself it if it turns out that way."

Zim's cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, he saw it was Mary who was calling. Zim pressed the button to answer.

"Hello, Mary," Zim said.

"Oh, hi, Zim,"

"Why are you calling, you missing my presence, not to worry, Mary, I'm back from work and ready to study, yes, study…"

"Okay, glad to hear, I was wondering, what were the chapters you needed done for calculus again?"

"Oh that, I believe it was chapters 25 through 30. It's quite a lot." Zim stated.

"Hmmm…I think have the notes from last years', alright, I'll be over a little while."

"Okay, see ya when you get here." Zim said then hung up the phone. "I have to get ready."

Zim ran upstairs to his room to change out of his uniform into a black tee shirt with a bold white outline of Earth printed on it and dark blue jeans. He fixed his wig and checked himself out in the bathroom mirror.

"Lookin' good." Zim told himself. "Should I take off the wig and contacts? Nah, I do it later when she's here."

Zim heard a crashing sound coming from his room and went to investigate. Gir knocked over Slippers' cage.

"What happened?" Zim said picking the cage back on his desk.

"I was trying to put Slippers back into his cage, but he didn't want to." Gir whined. Zim saw Slippers hop by his foot, picked him and put him back into his cage.

"There, let me tidy up the cage…" Zim muttered moving the food bowl to its original spot and put new food in the bowl.

"Okay!" Gir peeped and smiled. "I'm going out to play!"

Before Zim could protest or ask for his help, Gir flew out of his window and went over his house. Zim sighed and continued cleaning Slippers' cage. After tidying up, Zim went downstairs to the kitchen, sat down and began reading his book. He thought he could get started on it while waiting for Mary to arrive. Fifteen minutes later, his door bell rang. He looked up at his clock. It was 1:30 P.M.

"She's a little early, can't wait to see me I bet." Zim said pleased. "Can't keep her waiting."

Zim went into the living room and opened the door. To his surprise, instead of Mary, it was Josh and Brian at his door. Zim smiled at them but they didn't return the same expression. They kept their stares cold and hands hidden behind their backs.

"Hey guys," Zim said happily unexpected by their visit. "What are you up to?"

"The question is…" Josh said pulling a rifle from behind his back pointing to Zim's head. "What have you been up to Zim, or should I say Invader Zim from the planet Irk?"

Zim met the gaze of their faces and saw they weren't kidding. They found out about his true identity and were ready to physically harm him. Zim raised his hands to show his surrender, then glared back at them.

"What do you want?" Zim bitterly spoke.

"Back up in the house, we want to ask you a few questions."

Zim walked backwards into his house while he let them in. Minimoose floated by and saw his master being threatened. He was going to charge at them, but Zim saw Minimoose's reaction and shook his head. Minimoose stopped himself and floated next to the book case to keep hidden. Zim nodded to his choice to hide, and then looked back at his former friends.

"You might as well take off your disguise," Josh demanded. "Your horrible appearance won't frighten us!"

Zim slowly removed his wig and threw it on his couch, and then he tore off his contacts. Josh and Brian gawked at his appearance.

"Holy crap, you're right Josh, he is an alien!" Brian shouted. "He looks creepy!"

"I know, just look at his eyes, he has bug eyes! He's must be from a planet full of giant ant people!" Josh shouted too.

"Is that all!" Zim asked annoyed by their reactions. Josh recovered from shock and steady his aim at Zim.

"No, we know what you are up to and we want to know, how are you planning to destroy our planet?" Josh asked the million dollar question occupying their deranged minds.

"Josh, please, put the gun down and I'll explain everything. I'm not a threat. I'm not destroying the planet." Zim tried reasoning to them. Brian shook his head and took Josh's rifle out of his hands and pointed it to Zim.

"Okay, so if you are not destroying the planet, then why are you leaving crop circles in my family's fields? Huh, you think it's funny! It takes us a long time to plough plant and water those crops just so you can make a neat little graffiti sign in it." Brian shouted at him.

"Brian, honest, I don't what you are talking about." Zim explained. "I don't even have a ship."

"You're lying." Brian denied.

"If I had a ship, would you think I would be using that to get to skool instead of public transportation?"

"Would you be stupid enough to fly a space ship during the day?" Brian mocked him.

"No, but I would have modified to look like a car." Zim said. Brian looked at Zim and saw he looked genuine. Brian thought of his statement. No matter what he looked like, or who he was, it sounded like Zim and he was going to try to comprehend it. Brian lowered down his weapon.

"Why don't you have a ship?" Brian asked.

"I was banished here by my race." Zim said silently lowering his head in shame.

"For what purpose?" Brian asked.

"For being…" Zim said and stopped, looking at them trying to find the right word to explain it all. "Annoying."

Josh and Brian looked blankly at him while Zim looked away.

"That has to be the stupidest lie I have ever heard!" Josh shouted frustrated by this truth.

"It's not a lie." Zim tried to assure them. "It's the truth."

"Well, Zim," Josh said taking back his gun from Brian. "If you can't admit the truth, we'll have to wait here until you break."

"But I am telling the truth, you have to believe me."

"Why should we believe you?" Josh asked.

"Because you are my friends, at least I thought you guys were." Zim said disappointed. "Never in a million years would I've thought my own friends would betray me."

Josh stood steady unaffected by his words while Brian was having a change of heart. Brian whispered to him.

"Josh, this has got a little out of hand. Maybe you should put the gun down and we can talk this through."

"What? You can't be serious, don't tell me you actually believing him?" Josh shouted at Brian.

"Look at him!" Brian said. "Sure he's an alien, but he's not doing anything. If he was an 'evil' alien like you said, he would have already killed us!"

"Yes and the only thing that is keeping us alive is this gun, so I'm keeping it until my question is answered."

"I'm not taking over Earth! I'm not an Invader anymore! Get through your thick head, you incompetent fool!"

"Hey, don't call me names!" Josh protested.

"I can call you whatever I like, you're the one threatening with a gun, wait a minute! How did you manage to sneak that on the bus?" Zim asked him.

"We didn't take the bus." Josh sneered at him.

"Then how did you get here?" Zim asked.

"That is not of your concern." Josh threw off his question. Then his phone rang. Josh checked his phone and flipped it open. They heard screaming on the other side of the line. "Calm down, Tina, no, I have your car; I'll return it as soon as I'm done here. At Zim's house, no don't. Damn."

"He stole her car." Brian said letting Zim know.

"Great, now she's coming here." Josh said putting his phone in his jacket's pocket.

"Good, then maybe she can knock some sense into you!" Zim shouted at him.

"No she'll be on my side and join me once she sees you. Oh yeah, which reminds me, what are you planning to do with Mary?"

"Mary?" Zim asked confused then blushed.

"Yes," Josh said. "What are you doing to our friend? Are you using her for horrible alien experiments of some sort?"

"What? NO, nothing! I could never harm her!"

Hearing their screaming and shouting, Minimoose hid quietly in the bookcase shaking. He closed his eyes wanting them to stop shouting. Someone to come over and talk some sense into these people. Minimoose thought of the right person for the job, Dib.

Meanwhile in Dib's room

Dib was on his computer done watching a wacky parody of one of his favorite songs he found amusing. He was bored now and didn't know what to do. He looked at his desk drawer which hid his newly required ray gun and pondered at it. He glanced over at the open door to the hallway, got up from his seat and quickly closed it. Dib opened the desk's drawer and held his gun. He checked to make sure the safety was off before he got caught into the whim of his randomness.

"Help us, Dib, Save Us!" Dib mimicked the voices of helpless pedestrians. "Never fear, for I, Dib, will save you!"

Dib jumped on his bed and fired pretend shots at his old posters of alien creatures on his wall.

"Oh, thank you, Dib, thank you!" Dib once more mimicked their voices. "Yes, your country are in dept to you hero. It was nothing, Mr. President!"

Dib looked over at the posters that he fake blasted, than back to his hand again that was holding the gun. He sadly sighed. "God, I'm so alone."

Dib suddenly felt his head grow weak and held it. A strange force enters his mind. It echoed.

'Nya, Dib, two strange guys entered our house. Zim's in danger. Nya, I'm really scared.'

Then the prescience left his mind. Dib stood on his bed wondering what has happened to him.

"Was that…Minimoose?" Dib questioned himself. "If it was, Zim must be in a lot of trouble to contact me. I must go! I better bring this just in case."

Dib stuck the ray gun in his left cloak pocket and jumped off his bed running downstairs through the front door.

* * *

Zim glared over at Josh holding the rifle in his hands steady on his left shoulder. Brian stayed quiet undecided to which side he should join or how to stop them. He quietly waited.

"So this is how it's going to be?" Zim spoke startling Josh. "I tried reasoning with you, I tried telling you that I am not what you perceive me as but nothing going to change it. You still see me as an 'evil' alien, but I'm not worried."

"Wh-why's that?" Josh manages to ask.

"Because you don't have the mentality to kill; I can see it in your eyes, you're not in the right mind to take a life, especially mine."

"Shut up." Josh said trying to hold his arms still from shaking. Zim began taking a few steps towards him. "Stay back."

"Stay back?" Zim questioned his warning. "What you going to do, shoot me, come on, do it, I dare you. Pull the trigger, if you find my true appearance this shocking, I wonder how you react to the color of my blood."

Josh held the gun tight as Zim continued to walk towards him.

"Josh, drop the gun, it's over!" Brian warned him.

"No…" Josh mumbled shaking, and then held the rifle putting his finger on the trigger. Zim watched him carefully waiting to react to his actions. Zim was about to pounce on Josh until he saw a bright light enter the room. He glanced over to where the light was coming from and it was from the doorway. It was Mary. She was wearing a white blouse with blue jeans carrying a book bag while holding the doorknob. Zim looked at her to see she was frightened to witness Josh holding a gun to Zim.

"Josh, what are you doing?" Mary screamed at him.

"Stay back, Mary, the Zim you knew was a façade; he's an alien, an alien bent on destroying mankind!"

"I know!" Mary screamed at him. Josh and Brian turned to Mary in shock.

"You knew?" They both said.

"Yes, and you got it all wrong," Mary said, and then stood between Josh and Zim. "He's not going to destroy mankind. He lives here. He was wrongly banished by his people and just wants to live a normal life, right?"

She looked up to Zim for his answer.

"Yes, I would like that so much." Zim said sincerely.

"This is just sad, Mary, I thought you were smarter than that to believe his bullshit and now hearing you say it? You obliviously blinded by your own emotions to see the truth. Get out of the way, someone has to defend the human race and I'm guessing it's not going to be you."

"No, I'm not moving." Mary stood facing Josh. "I won't let you hurt him."

"Mary…" Zim whispered her name surprised to see that the human he love is protecting him, then he felt his mind fill with rage seeing Josh continuing to hold the rifle to her. He firmly placed his hand on her shoulder. "Move." Zim bitterly spoke to her.

"No, let me protect you." Mary said. Zim grabbed her shoulder and pushed her aside him making her trip and fall to her knees. Mary looked up to him as he confronted Josh.

"You may not like me, but don't you ever point a gun at her, ever, you got that! Don't drag her into our fight! I'm Irken, and if you don't like it, shoot me! Shoot me right now!"

"Zim!" Mary screamed.

"Stay down, Mary!" Zim demanded.

"What the Hell is going on? Josh, what are you doing with that BB gun?"

Zim, Mary, Brian and Josh looked over at the familiar voice blocking the light of the doorway. It was Dib aiming the ray gun to Josh's head. Dib lowered the gun and put it back into his cloak while Zim stared dumbfounded by Josh's gun. He had a better look at it and noticed it was a smaller than the average rifle.

"BB gun?" Zim said looking at Josh's weapon, then blankly at Josh. "This was a toy gun?"

"Of, coarse it's a fake gun, where would I get a real one?" Josh casually.

"You Idiot!" Zim screamed grabbing the BB and throwing it out of his hands. Josh backed up to his window, reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of barbeque sauce.

"Stay back!" Josh said opening the bottle and pointing it to Zim. "I still know your weaknesses."

"It doesn't matter, no amount of burning herb and spices are going to stop me from kicking your ass!" Zim threatened grabbing his collar and slammed him against his wall.

"Zim, stop it!" Mary said standing up running towards the two trying to break up the fight. Josh panicked and tried squeezing the bottle in Zim's face, but Zim caught him and struggled to get it away from him.

"No more dirty tricks!" Zim screamed. "You're going down!"

Josh squirted the bottle tightly making the BBQ sauce explode out of the tube. Zim dunked to avoid.

"Stop it you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Mary faced the wrath of the BBQ sauce covering all over her blouse, arms and face. She screamed. Josh and Zim stopped struggling and looked over at Mary screaming. Zim saw Mary charged at them and backed away. Mary gave Josh a huge smack on his cheek knocking off his glasses. They hung by the lobe of his ear.

"Josh! You ruined my favorite shirt! This will never come out!" Mary screamed then felt the need to slap him one more time.

"Ah ha heh heh heh,"

Josh and Mary glanced over at Dib who was laughing at them. Brian saw Mary was really drenched in the sauce that he found it funny too and laughed. Zim saw her chin was dripping and accidently snuck out a chuckle. Josh fixed his glasses and began to laugh as well.

"Stop laughing at me!" Mary screamed. "This stuff is so cold and slimy! Ewwwwww!"

After hearing Mary's complaint, the whole room filled with laughter. Mary crossed her arms at the boys and waited for them to stop laughing.

"Very funny." Mary muttered after they stopped.

"I'm so sorry Mary, but you look so ridiculous." Zim said coming towards her ready to hug, then withdrawn remembering what she was covered in.

"Zim, could I borrow some of your towels."

"Mary, you can use the whole linen closet, just get that stuff off you and throw them away! I'm not touching them!" Zim proclaimed his disgust. Mary walked upstairs to his bathroom leaving the boys to talk. Zim and Dib glared back at the guys that barged into his house. Josh saw that Dib was standing next to Zim.

"Dib, you know he's an alien?"

"Yeah, duh, my whole family knows" Dib sneered. "Zim and I go way back. Fourth grade, first day he landed here. He was more a nuisance back then."

"That's a nice way of putting it." Zim stated smirking at him.

"There was nothing 'nice' about it." Dib said facing him. "Screwing everything up with your weird alien technology, I had a hard time keeping up with you. Trying to stop you from destroying my home even if it meant protecting a bunch of idiots like those two standing before us."'

"Yes, but we did have fun." Zim smiled. "Remember the time I discovered Mars was a converted into a space ship and I was going to use that to squish all life on Earth?"

"How can I forget?" Dib questioned him. "That was the most epic adventure I had in my life. Piloting Mercury to stop your ass in an epic battle to save the planet. That was so cool!"

"Then you gave up for some reason refusing to take my challenge." Zim pointed out.

"You were flying through the asteroid belt, the asteroid belt! I wasn't going to risk my life taking up your stupid challenge."

"Ohhhh, so you admitted you defaulted. I guess I won that round." Zim taunted him.

"How did you win?" Dib questioned him. "You lost Mars, and didn't destroy Earth. I won that battle."

"You so did not!" Zim protested.

"Ahem!" Josh cut into their argument. Dib and Zim turned to them forgetting they were still there. "Let me get this straight. So you're not conquering the world?"

"No, if I was he would stop me!" Zim said pointing to Dib. Brian and Josh looked over at the two awkwardly.

"Don't question the logic; it just how it works between us." Dib said. "Then when Zim was banished here for being…What they called you again?"

"An annoying pest."

"Right, we agreed to become allies, then friends and eventually brothers to state's standards."

"Which is pretty strange. Never thought my mortal enemy would become my brother. Nope, didn't see that coming." Zim admitted. "But, I am glad you improved your opinion of me just calling me a nuisance."

"After witnessing this, I think my gratitude for you as my best friend increased tenfold." Dib said looked at Brian and Josh in disgust.

"Anyways, Dib, how did you know you had to be here?" Zim asked him.

"Minimoose sent me a telekinetic message." Dib said pointing to Minimoose quivering in the corner of the bookcase. "He was very scared, looks to be still scared."

Zim walked over to his frightened robot and knelt down aside him petting his head.

"It's okay, it's okay," Zim spoke softly trying to comfort it. "It's alright. There's nothing to be afraid of. See?"

Minimoose turned around to see everything was okay like his master said. Then Minimoose saw Brain and Josh. The robot charged towards them stopped and floated in front of them squeaking madly. Brian and Josh gave Minimoose a peculiar look.

"Minimoose," Zim called to it. "Why don't you go upstairs and check on Mary. See if she found the towels."

Minimoose floated up then down, and flew upstairs. Zim looked back at his so called intruders.

"Sooo…Would you mind explaining what you were thinking!" Zim screamed at them. "Coming into my house, threatening me with a fake gun scaring the living daylights out of me! What if it was a real gun, do you know how many people's lives you would have risk over this little incident!"

"I'm sorry, Zim, Josh was the one that influenced me!" Brian said pointing his finger at him.

"No, it was all that Agent Mothman's fault. He's the one that gave me wrong info!"

"Agent Mothman?" Zim questioned then looked over at Dib who was surprised to hear his code name.

"But, I'm Agent Mothman." Dib said pointing to himself. "How did I give you information? I didn't tell you he was an alien."

"You're Agent Mothman!" Josh and Brian said together.

"Yes, well, I was until I quit the Swollen Eyeballs." Dib said shaking his head. "There was so much corruption that I couldn't take it anymore. Did you give them any information about Zim?""

"No, we figured we get Zim to confess to his scheme, and then called for their assistance."

"Like I would confess to something I'm not doing…" Zim muttered under his breath.

"That's a good thing, Zim; at least we know they aren't after you for now."

"Dib, how so were they corrupted?" Josh asked. "If you don't mind explaining."

"Very well, I'll tell you this, but only as a warning of what will happen getting involved into agencies like that." Dib said. "It was three years ago, when I was fourteen during summer vacation. Zim and I thought we would have a neat time spending the summer finding real proof of the existence of Big Foot."

"More like you having a fun time," Zim said. "He dragged me there just because he didn't want to camp alone at night. Still afraid of the dark, he was."

"Excuse me, but who's telling the story?" Dib asked annoyed by him. Josh and Brian watched Zim as he gave the motion of rolling his eyes at Dib. "That's what I thought. So after weeks of searching, we found something amazing. We found Sasquatch, but not just one, but a whole colony. I thought that this was a great achievement in paranormal history and reported it to the Swollen Eyeballs, but that was my biggest mistake. I should have not told anyone."

"It's okay, Dib," Zim putting his hand in his shoulder. "You didn't know anyone would do that."

"What happened?" Mary asked. They looked over at her holding Minimoose in her hands. Her arms and face wasn't covered in BBQ sauce but her shirt bears the huge stain.

"How long were you standing here?" Zim asked her.

"Just when the story started." Mary answered him.

"See, when I told them about the habitat, The Swollen Eyeballs showed the video clip I sent them to the media and before I knew it, people began hunting them. I asked the agency to stop them, make it so that they would be considered an endangered species, but they told me that they cannot protect the mysteries of the world, they can only unravel them and that's why I quit being a paranormal investigator because of stupid shit like this!" Dib motioned to Josh's BB gun on Zim's couch. "People taking discoveries and destroying it, acting upon emotional whims instead of looking at it as discovering the potentials of our outer existence as human beings, that dream was destroyed the day I found out that half of their population have been poached."

"Wow…" Josh said feeling very guilty for what he done, and then looked away.

"So may I ask you, where did you get my information?" Dib asked Josh.

"I found it on the Swollen Eyeballs database when I was investigating why they were coming to our skool for my story. I found Zim's picture on your old webpage they had in their files and it all started clicking to me. All the connections, everything was starting to make sense."

"Dib, why do these people have my information?" Zim asked.

"I don't know," Dib answered. "I thought I destroyed it years ago when I quit, but I guess they duplicated the webpage before I deleted it."

"Those tricky bastards! Did they have my address on it?" Zim asked Josh.

"No, I made the assumptions of you all by myself from the webpage." Josh answered him.

"If you made the assumptions yourself, then why didn't you ask me in the first place than go through this extreme measure?" Zim asked them.

"Well, ummmm…." Josh mumbled.

"We were scared." Brian admitted.

"Yea, that's the right word for it. We were scared, we were so disbelieved that you being an alien invader from another planet to be true that we acted upon the fictional knowledge we gain by watching sci-fi movies. It was wrong of us, no, it was wrong of me to go through with what I did and I am sorry."

Zim listened to his apology and sighed.

"You have no idea what sci-fi movies did to make me look bad." Zim said and looked down. "You guys must have been really shocked and disgusted by the way I look, huh?"

"No, we are not disgusted." Josh denied.

"I was." Brian said. "Well not anymore, now I'm in complete shock. This is all too weird. I mean look at you! You're a freakin' alien!"

"Oh, come on!" Zim protested. "I'm not that freaky!"

"True, but it's still hard to adjust to this…" Josh pointed to Zim's eyes. "Your eyes are so huge and bug like and those antennas sticking out of your head. How would it not be hard to adjust seeing those, right Mary?"

"Actually…I think they are really cute." Mary disagrees then looked down fidgeting with her fingers. "In a buggy kind of way…"

"Cute?" Josh questioned looking at the blushing girl then back at Zim who appeared to be blushing too. Josh looked at them curiously. Then his brain struck a nerve. 'Oh My God! No, I must be imaging things, does Mary actually like-'

"Joooossshhh!" A terrible shriek called his name from outside Zim's open doorway. The screaming girl revealed herself as Tina as she ran into Zim's house.

"Can somebody please close my door?" Zim asked anyone that was listening. Brian nodded and finally shut his front door. Their direction focused on Tina.

"Josh, how could you take my car without asking?" Tina screamed at him.

"But, Tina, I had to, I had to see for myself, this…" Josh motioned over at Zim. He stood still studying Tina's reaction to his Irken form. Zim cringe his jaw expecting a shrill scream come out of her to his appearance, but she glanced at him and quickly back at Josh.

"At what?" Tina questioned Josh. "All I see is Zim."

"Tina, you know he's an alien?"

"Of course I do." Tina informed him. They looked at her in awe by her answer, even Zim.

"But how did you know?" Zim stuttered from shock. "I never told you about me."

"Oh, yes you did. It was last Tuesday before skool. I wanted to see the little rabbit…"

* * *

Tina's flashback

Tina parked alongside Zim's house. She opened the car door and exits her vehicle.

"I can't wait to see Slippers." Tina said excited. "Zim will have to let me see him if I offer him a ride to skool. It's a fair trade."

Tina was about to enter his yard until she saw the door open. It was Zim but there was something different about him. Tina gazed in wonder at his appearance, in his hand however, was a bag of garbage.

"Zim!" Tina shouted. Zim nodded up to the voice. "What's up with your face?"

"Oh, this, Ahwwwww…" Zim yawned. "I'm an alien from outer space…"

Zim carried the bag to his garbage bin and placed it inside.

"Really? I didn't know that!" Tina said amazed.

"Yeah, I'm trying to keep it a secret so don't tell anyone, okay?" Zim asked her while dragging the garbage bin to the curb.

"Are you evil?" Tina asked him.

"No, just living here since I was kicked off my planet." Zim continued to answer. Zim yawned some more and blinked a little.

"Okay, need a ride to skool?" Tina asked looking at his neat antennas.

"No, not going, they are on to me." Zim said walking away back into his house. He shut the door behind him.

"Okay, have a nice day!"

* * *

Zim looked over shocked by Tina's story of how he actually told her his secret.

"I don't remember any of that!" Zim shouted. "I must have been sleep-walking!"

"Zim, you really need to get better control of that." Dib chuckle his advice to him.

"I thought you were sleep-walking too, making up the whole alien scene as part of your dreaming, but now that I know you are one, there's something I wanted to do for a very long time." Tina said walking to Zim. He looked up at the girl strangely and so did his friends. Tina reached her hands to Zim's head, grabbed it and kisses him. Their jaws dropped witnessing the kiss, especially Josh and Mary's.

"Tina!" Josh and Mary shouted on cue.

Tina felt Zim trying to push her away and let go of him. Zim gasped for air and backed away. He wiped away the feeling from his lips using the back of his hand.

"Tina, why did you do that!" Josh screamed angrily at his girlfriend.

"Simple, I always wondered how it was like to kiss an alien when I was a little girl playing dress-up and thanks to Zim, he made it a reality."

"Well," Zim said displeased. "I hope you enjoyed your twisted fantasy because now you're pregnant!"

"WHAT!" Tina screamed horrified. Zim broke down and laughed at her.

"No, no, you're not pregnant. We don't reproduce that way, but maybe you should think twice before smacking some unknown creature on the lips."

"Sorry…" Tina mumbled her apology.

"Yeah!" Zim agreed.

"Come on, Zim, admit you liked it." Dib taunted him.

"Shut up, Dib!" Zim sneered at Dib. He glanced over at Mary who saw him staring and looked away.

'She so hates me right now…' Zim whined in his thoughts, and then he looked over at Brian, Josh and Tina that knows of his secret. "I will not lie to you, I was an Invader, and I did want to destroy this planet for my personal gain to prove that I was worthy enough for my race, but that chance was never given to me and they banished me anyways. In fact, I think they planned this all from the beginning, my former leaders, just to rid of me, but I'll prove them wrong. They can't get rid of me that easily for I am Zim, and I shall carry on even if it means having to live on this planet with a bunch of aliens like you. Being stared at, being pointed out on the street and ridiculed by to my appearance, I will move on and live my life the way I want to. I am Zim, and I shall never give up and now Josh." Zim spoke his name grabbing his attention.

"Yes, Zim?" Josh said.

"If you are true to your apology, I would like you to do a little favor for me." Zim told him slyly.

"And what's that?" Josh asked him nervously.

"You're a computer hacker, right?" Zim asked.

"Yes,"

"Then would you mind going into the Swollen Eyeball's computer and retrieve my information. I would like to have information back before something like this happens again."

"But, wouldn't they keep on duplicating it?" Josh asked them.

"Not if you get the original. If you find the original file of my work and deleted it, the copies would be considered invalid since the original source has been terminated. Even if they printed this information, they would still need the source to prove it's genuine. " Dib commented. "It will throw Zim off their radar if that's destroyed."

"That's true…" Josh said thinking it over. "Okay, I'll do it. Zim, do you have a computer?"

"Yes, I do. Follow me." Zim said walking into his kitchen. Josh and Dib followed along, while Brian, Mary and Tina watched them leave.

"I got to see this." Brian said leaving those two behind. Tina looked over at Mary who had BBQ stains on her egg white blouse. Tina saw the bottle on the floor and then at the BB gun lying on the couch.

"What's going on? What happened to your shirt?" Tina asked her. Mary glared at her then looked away as she marched into the kitchen.

"Hump, now that was rude!" Tina said following her. Tina went into his kitchen and found Zim standing to a vacant corner space between the pantry and refrigerator. To his right was a long beaded cord hanging from his ceiling. Zim put his hand on the cord.

"Well, come on." Zim advised his friends. Dib stood next to Zim. Brian shrugged his shoulders and stood next to Dib. Josh, Tina and Mary walked onto the platform. Zim pulled the cord. The floor sunk and began to sink into the floor. Then a leveled frame appeared above them.

"Oh, Dib, watch your head." Zim spoke quickly.

"What? Owww!" Dib squeaked when the ceiling set in place. Dib ducked and rubbed the top of his head. They moved deeper and deeper under the house. All they saw were metallic walls until they reached his lab. It was a bright red room that displayed a giant screen, below it, looked to appear to have a control board big enough to reach the width of the screen.

"Wow!" Josh exclaimed. "That has to be the biggest screen I ever seen in my life!"

"Yes, and it took a lot of material to repair it." Zim muttered. The elevator stopped at it's designated floor and they boarded off.

"A visitor! Finally…"

"Who said that?" Josh said looking around. Josh, Tina, Brian and Mary searched around the room to find the person until Zim revealed it.

"Computer," Zim raised his hand to screen. "These are my friends."

They looked to the screen in awe.

"This is computer, he used to be part of the house but he only stays down here now." Zim explained to his friends.

"I get so lonely…" The computer whined sadly.

"I did the best I can," Zim complained to it. "Maybe if you knew how to spell check, I would use you more often."

"Well, maybe if you programmed me with spellchecker or know how to spell correctly, I would be more useful to you, Zim."

His friends chuckled at its comment while the computer continued.

"But, no, all you do is come down here and talk about some red-head-"

"Chipmunk!" Zim suddenly finished its sentence. His friends looked at him suspiciously. "I saw it one day and decided to tell computer anyways-"

"That's not what I was going to say, Zim, what chipmunk did you see?" The computer asked then analyzed the room until he found the famous red head he'd talk about. "Ohhhh….Now I get it."

"Computer, we need your help!" Zim demanded.

"What can I do for you?" Computer moaned.

"The Swollen Eyeballs has my information in their database online. We need your help to hack my information out and terminate any copies. We want the original."

"Understood, but I need someone with that skills to operate it."

"Josh, get to it!" Zim said pushing him towards his computer control board. Josh looked down at the mainframe to find lit up buttons and two different types of keyboards built into the control board.

"This is unbelievable…" Josh widens his jaw with amazement. "What kind of computer is it? Is it a BC or a Mack?"

"It's neither," Zim answered him. "It's standard Irken computer I rebuilt myself. I added some modifications to it. I have a regular keyboard you humans are accustom to type on. I had it installed since Dib likes to play video games on it."

"He has good games." Dib said while nodding.

"Does it have internet connection?" Josh asked him.

"Of course," Zim chuckled. "Computer, connect to the world wide web!"

Computer turned on his screen and within seconds, a window popped up showing a search engine.

"You can command it to do stuff!" Josh shouted impressed by the computer's action.

"Ummm…Yes, I can." Zim answered awkwardly.

"That is so cool! Wish my computer would do that, but it would cost me a fortune to buy the program to perform that task."

"There's always a cost for convenience." Dib spoke wisely.

"Tell me about it," Josh commented. "This place is so cool, they must have just gave you this stuff!"

"Yes, give…" Zim agreed gravely.

"Zim, I hate to drag off from this conversation, but why do you have these down here?" Brian asked pointing to the strange covered vase sitting on table next to two circular rounding tubes. Zim walked up to one of the vases and rested his hand on its top.

"These are urns of the humans I created to be my mother and father." Zim managed to say keeping his eyes on the urns.

"You mean, Fleta and Doomo." Josh asked him. Zim glanced at him, and then back at the urns.

"It's Roomo, and yes, I created them to be my parents since I was living on this planet the rest of my life, but ironically enough, I acted like the parent. They were like children to me. I raised them and took care of them. Then one day, I brought them to my sixth grade graduation, the first day I introduced to the outside world, they were both crushed by a Ferris wheel."

"That is so sad!" Tina shrieked then covered her mouth. "Sorry…"

"No, it's okay because I agree, it is kind of sad…" Zim mumbled to them. "Somehow, when I look back at the incident, I feel it is my fault. I should have done something to-"

Zim stopped mumbling after he felt a presence of someone's hand on his shoulder. He turned his head around and saw it was Dib.

"Zim, it's not your fault. No one could predict that happening to anyone." Dib said. "You didn't know that was going to happen."

"You're right." Zim said sadly looking at him. "I didn't know…"

Dib looked away and took his hand off his shoulder.

"Zim!"

Zim turned around to face the voice.

"I'm going to do the best I can to help you!" Josh shouted moved by Zim's story. "I don't care what you did in the past or how exactly you got your ass banished, but all I know is that you're not evil and I'm sorry I misjudged you before."

"I accept your apology." Zim said to him. "Now get to hacking, Hack-man!"

"Wait, let me help too!" Tina suggested. "I want to help make up for any convenience my Kitty Cat may have caused."

"Sure, you can help too, but what can you do?" Zim questioned her skills.

"Tina's a really fast on the key board. She can type through pages in a breeze." Josh explained.

"Yep, I'm just that good." Tina gloated looking at her hands.

"With her skills and my knowledge of the site, this hack shouldn't take more than ten minutes."

"Cool, let's do it." Zim said excited. Zim, Tina and Josh walked up to his computer getting ready for the hacking, while Dib and Brian were having their own conversation.

"So, you're telling me that there might be some other alien messing up my parent's corn field?" Brian questioned Dib.

"Yes, the way you described it, it sounds like maybe a Sanobi, which is strange because I always known they were peaceful. Zim, Sanobis are peaceful, right?"

"Yep!" Zim shouted to Dib while he was setting up his computer.

"Yeah, maybe, you're neighbors are doing it." Dib suggested.

"Maybe…" Brian said thinking about it. Mary overheard their conversation. She looked among her friends. At Zim showing Josh and Tina how to operate his computer, to Brian and Dib talking about crop circles, then she looked down at her shirt and thought it was wise for her to go. Mary boarded his elevator and went up to the house while Zim was typing on his computer.

"There, it's in English, you should be able to type with it now." Zim said moving away for Tina.

"Great! Do you have a chair?" Tina asked. "I type better sitting."

"Oh, yeah, I do." Zim said looking around his lab, found one next to the elevator and grabbed it. "Here it is."

Zim looked around the room feeling someone was missing.

"Hey, where's Mary?" He asked.

"I think she went back to the house." Dib said. "I heard the elevator start up."

"Ohhh," Zim said handing Tina the chair, then stood next to the elevator waiting for its platform to return. "I was supposed to be tutoring with her today, until this happened…"

Then the elevator platform returned.

"You guys go right ahead with the hacking. I'll be right back." Zim told them and boarded. Zim waited patiently until he reached his kitchen. When he reached his floor, he saw Mary placing a notebook on Zim's kitchen table.

"Going already?" Zim questioned to her. Mary looked up at him, and then took the notebook off the table.

"Yes," She answered. "I would like to go home and change. I'm pretty tired of smelling like a BBQ place."

"Oh, you can borrow one of my shirts if that's your concern."

"Ummm…No thanks," Mary declined his offer. "Besides I think you are going to be too busy hacking those guys for your info than have a tutoring session, so here."

Mary handed him her notebook. Zim took it out of her hands and looked down at it. It was a green spiral notebook.

"I rewrote the chapters' notes from last year so they are more legible. You don't need me if you follow the notes correctly, okay? I'll be leaving." Mary said walking to the living and picked up her bag she left on Zim's floor.

"Okay, bye." Zim said watching her leave. He went on the platform and pulled the cord and was back on the elevator holding her notebook thinking over what she told him.

'I don't need her?' Zim thought. 'It makes me sound like I don't care for her, which is the complete opposite, or is that what she thinks?'

Zim reached the level of his lab and spied Josh and Tina searching through the Swollen Eyeball's website.

"Okay, now use password, 'abominable' to get into their database." Josh commanded Tina.

"Got it." Tina said as she typed in the password. The website went blank then showed various files labeled in codes.

"Hmmmm…" Josh hummed watching Tina scroll down through the files. "If I remember correctly, his should be labeled under file number 510."

"There it is!" Tina pointed to the file, and then opened it to see if it was the right file. It was, it showed Agent Mothman as the owner of the page and a picture of Zim.

"Wow, you look so small!" Tina pointed out. "I would have not guessed you were an invader sent to destroy us."

"Yes, but that was a long time ago, now hurry up and retrieve it so I don't have to worry about unwanted visitors like them anymore." Zim hurried his demand.

"Okay, calm down," Tina said exiting the page and right clicking on the file to ready the download. "They haven't even activated there, oh wait."

A screen appeared showing that the file is not downloadable.

"They must have activated their firewall. Hold on for a minute." Tina searched through the system and found its firewall. Then she right clicked on it and began typing a series of numbers similar to what the firewall displayed.

"What's she doing?" Zim asked Josh while Dib and Brian watched.

"She's trying to disable the system's firewall to download your file. Each number has to match up to show it that we are not an intruder."

"Done, now I have to find that file and quickly until it starts up again." Tina told Josh hoping he would help find it.

"There it is!" Josh said pointing it out on Zim's screen. Tina dragged three more files into Zim's and began the downloading process.

"Tina, keep fighting the firewall, I'll let you know when downloads are complete." Josh told her.

"Okay dok, Kitty Cat!" Tina said as she kept on following the codes of the firewall. They watched each number go higher to four percent each second. Then it reached ninety-six percent in twenty-three seconds.

"Come on…" Josh said watching the download carefully as Tina continued to type feeling her fingers grow tired.

"Hurry up, Josh…" Tina whined. Josh saw it hit one hundred and the file disappeared off the website.

"Now, Tina, get out of there." Josh commanded. Tina typed in a few remaining numbers on the firewall quickly, then logged out of the Swollen Eyeball's system and closed out of the internet. There on Zim's desktop showed Zim's file and a few others.

"Why did you download these?" Zim said pointing to the other three files.

"I took those files so they would think it was a just an ordinary hack, not just a target to retrieve your information."

"So they are not copies." Zim asked.

"No, they didn't even bother to create duplicates." Tina said.

"It doesn't matter now," Dib butted in. "Any copies that were created are under false pretence since we have this."

"So, what do you want to do with it?" Josh asked Zim.

"Delete it, there's no point in keeping it. I already know my life story." Zim answered him.

"Okay!" Tina said looking around his computer screen. "Ummmm…Where's your recycling bin?"

"I'll do it." The computer sighed as it dragged the files off its screen through its system. They disappeared off the screen.

"Wow," Josh shouted. "Your computer is amazing! Do you mind if I play with it for a little while?"

"Sure, but only if you promise me one thing."

"What is that?" Josh asked him.

"Don't ever do that again." Zim sternly spoke looking Josh in the eyes. Josh met his gaze and nodded.

"I promise," Josh said. Zim sighed then walked away skimming the pages of the notebook.

"Okay, there are some video games on it. Dib will show you where they are." Zim said flipping to the first page of Mary's notebook. "I should probably get to-" Zim stopped himself after he read the first note. It read: '_Summation notation, they are not so hard. This is how you solve them_.'

They were notes instructed by Mary on how to solve the problems. She wrote each step neatly. He carefully read each note she wrote while his friends were playing on his computer. He leaned against his table as read through the pages. Each page he flipped through addressed him with such kindness. '_That is the answer. If that's not your answer, try it again. I'm sure you'll get it right.' 'Don't follow the method in the book, this one way much easier.'_ Zim read each line until he reached the final sentence on the last page which read: _'Zim, I know it must have been hard for you adjusting to this lifestyle, but you have tremendous strength to move on and can do anything, even pass that test. So don't give up. I believe in you.'_ Zim read it over and over again until he felt his hands slightly shake overwhelmed by his emotions.

'Her words, they have so much meaning in them that I want to hug them, but I don't want to hug this.' Zim thought looking down at the notebook. 'I want to hug her.'

Zim got off from the table and went to his elevator. Dib spotted Zim pressing the button for up.

"Hey, where are you going?" Dib called to him. Zim turned around and smiled.

"I don't know, but I'm probably going to do something stupid." Zim said to him. Zim boarded the elevator leaving them.

"Okay, good luck on your quest of stupidity. I'll just watch over our friends in your lab while you're away. Nice, Zim." Dib sarcastically spoke.

"What was that, Dib?" Tina asked him overhearing his conversation.

"Oh, nothing." Dib said walking back to Zim's computer.

Zim ran out of his house and all the way through his neighborhood, and then stopped when he reached the entrance.

"Wait a minute, why am I running?" Zim asked himself. "There's no point in it. I could easily catch the bus." Zim said looking at his watch. Then he remembered that the bus already passed by here and was going to take another forty five minutes to get here. "Damn, I'm better off walking than waiting. Her neighborhood is close by."

Zim walked upon the sidewalk to the direction of Mary's neighborhood contemplating what he would say to her. He felt the cold winter wind blow through his antennas. Antennas? That's when he realized he forgot to put his disguise on when he left the house. He looked back behind him, then towards Mary's neighborhood where he was a few blocks away, then began to run. Not back home, but to Mary's house instead.

Meanwhile…

Mary returned home from Zim's house and sighed. She went up to her room, changed her shirt and got dressed in a white tank top.

"Stupid Zim," Mary muttered. "Why did you have to let Tina kiss you? Although he acted like he didn't like it. No, he's still a jerk."

Mary walked downstairs to the laundry room and threw her shirt into the washing machine.

"I guess I could try to bleach the stain out." Mary reasoned and sniffed her arm. "Ick! I still smell like BBQ. I should take a bath."

Mary went back upstairs into her bathroom to run the bath water. She sat on the lid of the toilet seat watching the water run out of the faucet.

"Why does this have to hurt so much…" Mary pondered to herself watching the water. "Does he love me; no he has to like me a little. I don't even know anymore. I wish I was brave like Tina and could-"

Mary's words were cut short by the frantic use of the doorbell. Mary heard the bell rung a few times, then heard knocking.

"Who could that be? Maybe Dad locked himself out again." Mary said turning off the faucet. Mary ran downstairs and opened the door, but it wasn't her father who was knocking. It was Zim to her surprise. She looked upon his frazzled state. He bent over holding himself up by his knees and panted heavily. Mary looked into his eyes and saw they were magenta. This worried her.

"What's wrong, Zim? What are you doing here like this?" Mary asked opening the door wider. Zim caught his breath and looked into the eyes of the girl he managed to reach. The girl he risked exposing his identity. The gem of his life. He threw the notebook on the porch to her feet. Then stood up.

"I don't want this notebook! I want you! Don't tell me that I don't need you because it isn't true. I-I need your kindness. The way you smile at me, the way you laugh. That's what I need and I want to keep you smiling and happy with me, always." Zim said looking into her eyes. Zim waited for her response and saw her cheeks grew brightly. Her eyes turned gentle and kept her hands cupped between her breasts. Zim watched her lips move.

"I don't know what to say." Mary managed to speak. Zim took a few steps towards her and brushed the knuckles of his fingers on her cheek. Mary looked up to him.

"Say whatever you like." Zim spoke softly to her as he cupped his hand to her right cheek.

"Zim…I love-"

He pulled her closer and pressed his lips upon her opened mouth. Mary watch his eyes begin to close as she felt Zim's lips massage hers. She closed her eyes following the movement of his to hers. Zim wrapped his arm around her waist and slid his hand from her cheek into her hair running his fingers through it. He clumped her red curls into his fist, gripped it and tugged gently as he continued to kiss her. Mary didn't mind his tugs. She loved it when he held her that way. She rested her hands on Zim's chest and rubbed him affectionately. Mary felt his jaw move and gripped his shirt tightly as she stood on her toes to meet his lips again. Zim quit tugging on her hair and held it while they kissed. Zim continued to kiss her as long as he could until he felt his jaw grow sore. He eventually removed his lips from hers. Mary felt his absence and opened her eyes to see his glow. Mary smiled and stoked his left antenna with her index finger. Mary saw that the front door was still open.

"Maybe I should let you inside." Mary suggested while stoking his antenna.

"I think you did a pretty good job letting me in." Zim smirked to her. Mary giggled.

"I mean I should close the door behind you."

"Oh, yeah, good idea." Zim said then closed her door and leaned on it. Mary followed his gravity and rested her head into his chest. May sighed lightly as she nuzzled him. Zim wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close.

"You're so cute. If I was still conquering this world, I would take you from this planet and bring you to mine."

"Okay…"

"What? Mary, you're not supposed to agree to that!"

"It doesn't matter to me where I go. As long as I get to be with you, I'll be happy."

Zim leaned his head over to Mary's ear and whispered.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Zim."


	31. Love Suckers

Yay! I finished just in time for Halloween! Hope you have a fun tonight. I know I will, I'm a Vampire Kitty!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 31: Love Suckers

Zim walked all the way home from Mary's house with a huge smile on his face. Sure, he was wearing the most ridiculous disguise but never less, he was smiling. Mary let him borrow her swimming goggles and a fuzzy white and yellow striped snow hat with a little white puff ball on top. When he walked into his neighborhood, he couldn't hold in what he was feeling any longer.

"Yes! Victory for Zim!" Zim shouted clenching his fists and raising them above his head in celebration. "I got to kiss the girl I love and my friends don't want to kill me. I'm the luckiest guy in the world despite looking like a weirdo!"

"So that is you."

Zim opened his eyes and saw ahead of him was Dib standing a few feet away. He had his arms crossed grinning at him.

"Oh, Dib," Zim said putting his arms down then waved to him. "Hi!"

"What's with the get-up?" Dib asked pointing to his face.

"This," Zim said pointing to the goggles. "I wanted to switch it up a bit. Try something new, ya know?"

"Was that part of your stupid adventure?" Dib asked.

"Yes!" Zim quickly agreed, then looked around Dib and saw he was alone. "Where is everybody? Are they still at my house?"

"No, they went home about an hour ago. I stayed a little longer cleaning up the Barbecue mess on your living room floor. You're welcome." Dib said expecting Zim's gratitude.

"Thanks." Zim said smiling giving it to him.

"So where did you go on your stupid adventure?" Dib asked.

"Mary's house." Zim quickly answered without thinking.

"Really?" Dib said smirking at him. "Anything interesting happened?"

"Ummmmm….." Zim blankly mumbled while he thought about the conversation he shared earlier with Mary.

* * *

Earlier

Mary was rummaging through her hallway closet finding a disguise for Zim to wear so he can return back home.

"You're lucky my Dad wasn't home or he would be freaking out right now." Mary said to Zim who was outside the closet leaning on the edge of her end table.

"I'm just lucky nobody saw or they did see but didn't bother to stop me." Zim said thinking of anyone he may have seen while running here. He remembers seeing no one. "Your neighborhood is very quiet."

"Sometimes it is." Mary agreed slightly stepping out with a pair of goggles with a pink plastic strap in her hand. She showed it to Zim.

"Do you have anything stylish?" Zim asked displeased by his option.

"Do you have ears?" Mary asked him.

"Point taken; I doubt I can wear glasses without them slipping off my head."

"That's why I suggested the goggles or I would give you a pair of sunglasses. The elastic should adjust to your head without slipping."

"Okay, let me try it on." Zim said grabbing the goggles. He fit the goggles around his head and fixed the elastic strap that it stuck tight to his skin. Zim thought they were very uncomfortable, but they fit well so it was good enough for him. "How do they look?"

"Looks like you're ready for the beach." Mary said laughing at him.

"Never will I touch that large body of ocean!" Zim screamed. Mary chuckled then went back into the closet to find him a hat.

"This is fun!" Mary said while giggling. "I wonder what kind of hat I should have you wear next."

Mary pulled out a yellow and white striped hat out of a bag to show to him. Zim smiled at her.

"Perfect." He spoke, then held her hands and drawn her close to his chest. "I can't believe I finally got to kiss you."

"How long have you been waiting." Mary asked nervously looking up at him. Zim caught her gaze and looked into it.

"For a very long time." Zim said then kissed her cheek. Mary blushed after he kissed her and asked.

"Were you shy?"

"I was."

"So was I" Mary agreed holding her hat and his hands tight.

"But we're together now, so I am happy." Zim told her.

"Yes, I wonder what our friends would think." Mary smirked to Zim. Zim thought about it then gasped.

"Oh, you're right!" Zim realized. "If they pulled a pellet gun on me for being an alien, I can't imagine their reaction to us!"

Mary saw that Zim was a worried and smiled thinking of a solution.

"Maybe we should wait to tell them until things settle down." She said placing her hat on top of his head.

"You sure?" Zim asked her.

"Yeah, it could be our little secret." Mary said smiling at him.

"Our little secret…" Zim repeated, and then smirked. "I like it!"

"Good." Mary said holding his hand and then pecked his cheek. "Then we have nothing to worry about. They will find out eventually, right?"

"Yeah, let's enjoy ourselves before they have a fit over it and if they do, who cares."

"Exactly," Mary chirped hugging him.

"You know, Mary, I'm starting to like the smell of BBQ sauce."

"Well, don't get used to it. I'm taking a bath."

"Can I join you?" Zim humored her.

"You know you can't so go home!" Mary said pointing downstairs.

"But would you let me if I could?"

"Get outta here!"

* * *

"Hello?" Dib said starting to get annoyed by Zim's vacant stare. "Earth to Zim! You on this planet, right?"

Zim returned to the present.

"I'm sorry, got sidetracked. What was your question?"

"What did you do at Mary's house?" Dib repeated irritated.

"Nothing, I was returning her notebook." Zim made up.

"Then what is that in your hand?" Dib asked pointing to the green spiral notebook he held in his right arm.

"Mary's notebook." Zim answered awkwardly. "She's letting me borrow it."

Zim smiled at Dib hoping he would buy it, but Dib stared back at him suspicious by his increased stupidity.

"Okay…" Dib said. "I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow, I guess."

"Okay, see you!" Zim suddenly shouted. Dib walked by him, turned around, shook his head at him and walked away. Zim sighed relieved.

"That was close. He almost found out, but would it be so bad that he did. After all, he is my best friend and he knew I liked her. He's not going to freak out that I'm with her if I did tell him, I didn't need to lie, but I technically didn't lie to him. I did go to return her notebook and she did give it back so I could use for my homework. So I'm not lying to him, yeah, yeah, that's right." Zim rambled on until he reached his front yard. There he found Gir sitting on a tree. Zim watched as Gir hung from the branch swinging around.

"Look," Gir called for his attention. "I'm an opossum!"

Zim crossed his arms not impressed by his imitation of a nocturnal animal.

"And where have you been all afternoon?" Zim asked his robot.

"I been flying all over the world, heh, heh,"

Zim shook his head and sighed.

"Figures, the one time I needed you to defend me, you're gone." Zim told Gir.

"But, Master, you disabled my weapon's system. If anyone were to threaten you, I couldn't save you! Whoo!" Gir said as he swung off the branch and landed in front of Zim.

"Whatever! Come in!" Zim demanded Gir as he put his hand on the door knob. Gir saw that Zim was displeased by him.

"What happened?" Gir asked.

"It's nothing to concern you now, come inside. I'm sure Minimoose missed you."

When Zim opened his door, Minimoose charged at him knocking him off his steps landing into his yard.

"Minimoose! What's wrong with you!" Zim screamed. Zim lifted himself upward and felt something heavy on his chest. It was Minimoose shivering on him.

"Minimoose…" Zim said sadly seeing his robot was still upset about what happened. Zim petted his head and hugged him. "Josh…" Zim spoke knowing he was the cause of Minimoose's fear. "Why did you have to be such a fool?"

Zim stood up carrying Minimoose into his house. Gir followed him looking curiously at Minimoose.

"What's wrong with Minimoose? Minimoose! Minimoose!"

"Quiet Gir, everything's fine. He's just a little scared." Zim said walking him to the couch. Zim sat down placing Minimoose on his lap petting him. Gir peaked over Zim's knee and looked into Minimoose's eyeballs, then quickly looked at Zim.

"There were intruders?" Gir asked shocked.

"Yes, it was all a misunderstanding." Zim told Gir.

"Oh…Poor Minimoose, frighten 'cause somebody was being mean…" Gir said while petting Minimoose talking him like he was a baby.

"Why do you sound like a girl?" Zim shouted at him.

"Heh, heh, 'cause I like it!" Gir chirped and ran into the kitchen. Zim shook his head and continued to comfort Minimoose. Zim petted his head while he shivered.

"Minimoose, everything is going to be alright. I promise, so don't be scared, okay?" Zim told him. Minimoose floated off Zim's lap and flew upstairs.

"It might take him awhile, but he'll be fine…I think." Zim said and then shouted. "GIR!"

Gir enter the living room on command and saluted him.

"Yes, my Lord!" Gir saluted.

"I need you and Minimoose to be gone tomorrow afternoon. Go out and have some fun." Zim said. Gir thought it was unusual that he wanted him to have fun and stared at Zim oddly.

"Why?" Gir asked.

"I need the house to myself when Mary comes over."

"Mary's coming over! I want to play with her too!" Gir complained. "How come we have to go?"

"Because I need her to help me with my math homework without any distractions."

"But, we're here every time she would come over to help you. Why do you need us to go now?"

"Because…I, we need our privacy." Zim said turning away. "Besides, I think it would be good for Minimoose to take him out of the house for a while."

"Okay!" Gir peeped. "I'm gonna make Minimoose all better!"

"Thank you, now if you excuse me, I have to finish where I left off on my reading." Zim said entering the kitchen to read his English book he left open on the table. Zim sat down and looked at the book blankly forgotten what he read so far. "I don't remember where I left off. I guess I have to read from the beginning, again."

* * *

It was a chilly Sunday afternoon when Mary was strolling into Zim's neighborhood. She wore her black jacket and purple scarf complimenting her long black skirt. She brought her brown tote bag prepared with all the items she needed to help Zim with the overwhelming amount of math he had to catch up on. She brought a notebook, a few pencils and a calculator but being prepared wasn't her big concern. The reason for her shaky nerves was how she and Zim were going to interact after they realized their feelings for each other. Would Zim want to focus on his studies or would he try to make a move? Or will she? That worried her a little since she was going to his house. She walked to Zim's house thinking of different scenarios until she reached his house. She stood in his yard for a moment staring at his gnomes.

"No, no," Mary said trying to shake off any remaining delusions she had. "I am tutoring him just like before only he knows I love him and will return the favor. Eeek! No, there's nothing to be nervous about. We just started dating. Actually we never dated. Does that mean I'm his girlfriend? I don't know! I gotta quit talking to myself and knock on his door."

Mary decided to walk up to his door and knock on it. Mary waited feeling her heart pound until someone answered it. It was Zim without his disguise. His magenta eyes shined when he saw who it was.

"Oh, Mary, come on in." Zim said happily inviting her into his home. Mary nodded and entered into his living room. Mary took off her scarf, tote bag and jacket leaving it on the arm of his couch. She looked around the living room and noticed how quiet it was.

"Where's Gir and Minimoose?" Mary asked.

"They are out and about. Painting the town red, causing all sorts of mischief." Zim informed her shutting the front door locking it. Mary saw him lock it.

"W-Why are you locking the door?" Mary asked him nervously.

"So I won't have anyone barging into my house like yesterday." He said bitterly to his door. "I'm still mad about it!"

"But, how will Gir and Minimoose get in?"

"Why, they can knock, of course, but they won't be coming home soon so we have the house all to ourselves." Zim said walking closer to her. "Yep, all alone to ourselves."

"Well, uh," Mary said while picking up her tote bag. "How about we get started on that homework?"

"Right, right, the homework…" Zim said remembering his true agenda. Mary went into his kitchen and sat down at his table where she saw his books and her notebook.

"Have you looked at my notes?" Mary asked while Zim was standing over her.

"I have and did a few chapters, but I think I have a few doubts whether I did it right or not."

"Okay, let me have a look at them." Mary said. Zim pulled up a chair right next to her and his homework. Zim handed her his paper. Zim watched her eyes move while she studied his work. He saw her right hand lay upon his table and thought of laying it on hers. He was about to until she raised it and brushed her curls over her earlobe. Zim studied the perfect features of her delicate face.

"You're beautiful…" Zim whispered laying his elbow on his table. Mary looked over to him hearing part of his whisper.

"What?"

"I said you're beautiful." Zim repeated with more confidence. Mary blushed and turned away looking at his paper.

"Thank you…I think you're pretty too. Wait, you would be considered handsome since you're a boy."

"I don't care. I like it either way hearing it from you."

"Alright, then you are a very pretty boy!" Mary exclaimed. Zim blushed and looked at her strangely.

"Well, don't say it like that…" Zim said turning away embarrassed.

Mary thought his shy embarrassed nature was cute and giggled at him. Zim glanced back at the giggling girl and smiled. His head ached with the desirable urge to kiss her. Zim leaned close to her ready to plant one on Mary until she opened her eyes. Zim was eye level with hers and she stopped laughing.

"Zim…" Mary spoke his name weakly.

"Yes, Mary," Zim said leaning closer to the call of his name.

"Maybe we should…" Mary whispered away.

"We should what?" Zim asked leaning closer.

"Go back to your tutoring lessons." Mary said glancing at his homework. Zim quickly backed away realizing he had lost his focus again.

"Right, of course!" Zim shouted and turned his chair towards the table. "So how did I do?"

"You got chapters 25 and 26 right, but 27, I think you don't quite understand the equation." Mary said observing the paper.

"I was guessing through that chapter." Zim admitted. "I looked through your notes and everything but I still don't get it."

"Here," Mary said taking her notebook and calculator out of her tote bag. She borrowed one of Zim's pencils and started writing down numbers. "Let me explain it better."

Mary went over the equation used in chapter 27 while Zim observed her corrections. When Zim realized his mistakes, he redid the chapter again and moved on to chapter 28. That was a long chapter. It took them about forty-five minutes to complete.

"Arghhh…" Zim protested dropping his pencil. "Enough! No more math homework!"

"How about we take a break?" Mary suggested.

Zim sighed and rubbed his right shoulder blade.

"Is something wrong?" Mary asked concerned by his grumbling.

"It's nothing; just my shoulders are killing me. I was doing homework all night yesterday. The ache must have caught up to me." Zim explained feeling his shoulders become stiffer.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"You don't need to apologize. It's not your fault. You're not the one that missed all my homework assignments."

Mary watched Zim agonized over the pain in his shoulders. She stood up and walked behind him. Zim looked over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Zim asked her. He felt her hands rest on his shoulders.

"Nowhere, I'm right here." Mary whispered into his antenna. She began rubbing his shoulders back and forth in a circular motion. "Does that feel better?"

"Oh yes, that feels so good…" Zim moaned relaxing his shoulders.

"Good." Mary said and thought. 'What am I doing? I can't be massaging him. I'm supposed to be tutoring him. This isn't helping, but is it?'

Mary looked down and saw Zim was resting his head on her chest. Mary saw his antenna twitch as it tickled her chin. He has his eyes closed. Mary's heart raced shocked where was resting and how cute he looked laying there.

'How did I not notice him?' Mary thought. 'Okay, calm down, he's just tired, that's all.'

Mary continued rubbing his shoulders until she accidently touched his neck. She quickly lifted her hand away to the contact of his skin.

'His skin is so soft. No wonder he's so sensitive.' Mary thought then began rubbing the curves of his neck. 'It's part of the massage, yeah, I'm healing him. He must have some neck pain too. I'm not doing anything inappropriate.'

Mary rubbed his lower jaw and neck, and then temptation pulled her in when her fingertips glide gently down his neck to the outer rim of his shirt. Zim opened his eyes and looked where her hand was compared to the other on his shoulder. He felt Mary pull away and grabbed her hand. He looked up to her seeing her flustered face and smiled.

"Tell me, Mary, are you giving me a massage or do you like the sensation of my skin?" Zim asked gripping her palm sliding his fingers between hers. Mary gasped and stepped back feeling bashful. She moves aside from him but felt he had a hold of her. She wanted to sit back to her chair but Zim wouldn't let her. She glanced over and saw Zim held her hand to his chest. "You didn't answer my question."

"What if I said both, would I get my hand back?" Mary asked him. Zim smirked rubbing her knuckles against his cheek, then kissed them. Mary was stunned by his romantic gesture.

"Maybe, if you sit on my lap." Zim proposed to her keeping her hand close to his lips.

"Your lap?" Mary stuttered by the idea.

"I want to hold you, that's all." Zim said sweetly to her. Zim aligned his legs ready for her to sit on him. Mary hesitated at first, and then took a few steps forward. She sat upon his lap dangling her legs to his right. Zim let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her. He laid his chin upon her left shoulder and began nuzzling her neck. Mary found herself wrapping her arms around him while he snuggled her. Mary shut her eyes and let Zim rub upon her neck a few times until he stopped and whispered.

"I really appreciate you coming over to help me."

"That's right…" Mary said opening her eyes. "I'm supposed to be tutoring you." Mary pushed away from Zim while he moved off her neck. He looked down at the girl. "I shouldn't be doing this. This feels so…wrong."

"What's so wrong about it, unless you think that we're wrong?" Zim sadly stated looking away. Mary saw his sad expression and realized what she said. Mary grabbed his hands and held them close to her chest. Zim looked back at her. She looked him in the eyes and said.

"Every time I look at you, I don't see an outer space creature. I only see you."

"I feel the same way." Zim said relieved.

"I don't think we're wrong. Sorry for making it sound that way." Mary apologized lowering their hands on her lap.

"Then what do you mean by 'wrong'?"

"I mean what I'm doing is wrong. I'm supposed to be helping you and here I am sitting on your lap. What kind of tutor does that?"

"The kind of tutor you pay at the right price, heh, heh," Zim joked to her but she didn't find it amusing.

"I'm no good…" Mary whispered lowering her head.

"Hey, don't tell yourself that." Zim told her lifting her chin with his finger. "I'm very fortunate to have such a sweet girl come here, help me clean up my mistakes and tutor me. Also give me a great massage. I feel much better because of you."

"You mean it?" Mary said happily.

"Yes, loving you is the best thing that ever happened to me."

Mary sat there blown away by his words, and then asked. "Why do you say such wonderful things?"

"Because I know how." Zim smirked to her playing with one of her curls. "It just comes naturally whenever I'm with you."

Mary wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Zim was caught off guard by her surprise but sure enough, he was kissing her holding her close to him. Mary held the back of his neck while she kissed. Mary slowly opened her eyes and saw Zim was gazing at her while they were kissing. She found herself staring deeply into his eyes hypnotized by the colors. Mary let go of his lips and said.

"You have such beautiful eyes."

"You really think so?" Zim asked uncertain by her compliment.

"Yes, I do." Mary supported her statement laying her hand upon his cheek.

"Well, that's a first. Nobody ever said that. If they accidently seen them, they would say I'm ugly."

"Maybe they don't see them the way I do."

"Perhaps your affection may have given you a rose-colored perspective of me."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"It depends on what you know. Would you consider harvesting children's organs and consuming them to fool everyone that you're human to be obscene?" Zim said smiling awkward at her. Mary didn't react to his question until she comprehended it.

"What?" Mary shouted taking her hand off Zim.

"When I used to be an invader, I stole my classmates' organs so I can pass as a normal human boy for the nurse that needed to examine me for head pigeons. I even stole Dib's lungs."

"Why are you telling me this?" Mary asked confused by his confession.

"To let you know I wasn't the nice alien you think I am. I can be a monster." Zim warned her looking away ashamed by his past deeds.

"You're not a monster. You wouldn't be telling me this unless you didn't have remorse for what you done." Mary told him. Zim looked back at her and noticed that she was still sitting on him awaiting his response.

"So, you're not disturbed by what I told you?"

"It depends. Did you return the organs to your classmates after you passed the exam?"

"Yes, I did. They were weighing me down. Though, you are right. I do feel bad about it. I didn't care much for humans at the time since I was an invader. I thought that they were filthy and should by wipe from the Earth, but once I was banished here, I had no choice but to tolerate them. Sure, I like Dib, but I didn't see him as human. Dib was Dib and well sometimes he didn't act human, but over the years, I learned to like your species even though there were a few that I didn't like, yet still like them. I didn't think I would grow fond of them." Zim said then put his hand to her cheek while she listened. "And here I am deeply in love with one."

"So does that mean I'm your girlfriend?" Mary asked looking into his eyes.

"Because you accepted the fact that I ate human organs?" Zim asked puzzled.

"No, I mean what we are doing right now. Expressing each other's feelings and sharing each other's secrets." Mary made clear to him.

"I didn't get to hear any of yours." Zim pointed out hoping to fish a secret out of her. Mary sat silent for a while and spoke.

"When I was little after my parents got divorced, there were times I didn't want to come home. I would stay after skool sitting outside on the steps doing my homework. When people asked why I was sitting there, I would lie and say that my Dad was picking me up. He always worked late. He worked a lot since my mother left us. I just couldn't stand being alone in that house. I hate how quiet, how empty it would be and I would sit there surrounded by it that it scared me." Mary confessed then looked sadly at him. "I hate being alone."

After hearing her confession, Zim wrapped his arms around her giving her comfort.

"You don't have to be alone anymore. I'm here for you and Gir and Minimoose too. We are here for you. We love you very much."

"I love you guys very much too." Mary said wiping a tear from her eye. "You must think I'm silly being afraid of loneliness."

"No, I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels the same way." Zim expressed then kissed her cheek. Mary held his chin and returned his kiss by touching his lips. Once Mary let go, Zim continue to speak. "Mary, I thought you were my girlfriend since I kissed and proclaimed my feelings to you."

"That's what I thought too but I wasn't sure since we never dated. Our connection was more of a 'lost in the moment' kind of thing."

"Would you like to go on a date?" Zim asked.

"Yes, that would be great."

"Okay, let's go."

"Right, now?" Mary questioned.

"Sure, why not?"

"It's a little too late for a date." Mary said pointing to his kitchen clock. It was 6:15 PM. "Especially if we have skool tomorrow and you still have homework to do."

"Then why did you agree?"

"I didn't think you were going to ask me now." Mary said.

"Okay, how about next Sunday?"

"Next Sunday?"

"Yep, we can spend the whole day together."

"Okay," Mary said pleased by the idea. "What should we do?"

"I don't know but I'll think of something special we can do until then we'll have to wait to commemorate our relationship which doesn't mean we shouldn't have it."

"So, you're saying…"

"I'm all yours." Zim said holding out his arms. After hearing this, Mary leaped in joy and hugged his with so much force that his chair leaned back and snapped. They fell together inches away from where the chair banged on the kitchen floor. Mary noticed she fell on him and lifted herself up.

"I'm so sorry, Zim!" Mary said supporting herself over him. "Are you alright?"

"Yep," Zim manage to speak after getting crushed. "I'm alright, even if you broke my back, I would still love you."

Zim lifted his hand brushing it upon her cheek. Mary leaned closer while Zim leaned forward to meet her lips. They kissed each other ignoring that they were sore and busted one of Zim's chairs.

Meanwhile…

Dib was walking over to Zim's house texting on his phone. He looked into his message box and saw that Zim didn't text him back or returned any of his phone calls.

"What the hell is he up to?" Dib questioned out loud annoyed by Zim's unresponsive behavior. "We were supposed to go see Ninja Fighter on Ice 3 like a half hour ago. I really want to see that movie so I would know what Dad and Gaz were talking about. That was the last screening of the day. Our movie theaters suck on Sundays. Stupid curfew! Where is he? Last Friday he told me he wasn't doing anything."

Dib reached Zim's front door. He turned the knob and felt it was locked. Dib thought this was weird.

"Locked? Zim never locks his door during the daytime. I wonder if anyone's home." Dib said then peered into his window and saw a light.

"There's a light on, what the?" Dib said as he stared at the image the kitchen light reflected of Mary on top of Zim kissing. Dib was slightly embarrassed to catch those two making out but also thrilled.

"You son of a bitch." Dib muttered and then shouted. "So you did do something at Mary's house! I knew it! I fucking knew it! This is unbelievable what I just witnessed. It's like a blue moon. It's like watching a chicken hatching ducklings. Or watching a solar eclipse without the effects of blinding your eyes and he lied to me about it and ditched me. Ooooo….Zim that tears it."

Dib flipped opened his phone.

"Fine, Zim, if you want to pass up on the movie, I'll make my own entertainment. Heh, heh,"

Dib typed up a little message and sent it to Josh, Brian, Tina, Gaz and his Dad, reading, 'Guess what Zim's doing?'

'What?' Brian texted.

'Trying to take over the world, again, jk.' Josh texted.

'Why would I care?' Gaz texted.

'Don't tell me he lost his wig and hiding under a bridge somewhere.' Prof. Membrane texted.

'He's fighting a swarm of figure skating ninjas. Fighting Ninja on Ice 3 kicks ass!' Tina texted.

Dib read their texts and texted back, 'Making out with Mary' to all of them. Their response was quick to their reactions.

'What!' Brian texted.

'You're joking right?' Josh texted.

'Dib, don't send me useless crap!' Gaz texted.

'OMG! No Way!' Tina texted.

'Son, how many times do I have to tell you not to leave the towels on the floor? If they are dirty, throw them in the hamper. Now, I have to find clean towels!'

"Yes, this is going to be one interesting night." Dib said then snickered as he walked back home.

* * *

Zim woke up next morning happy as any alien could be after finishing all the homework that consumed his whole weekend. He got dress, said good bye to Gir and Minimoose and was out the door. Zim checked his messages on his cell phone and saw he missed a phone call from Dib and left him a text saying. 'Where are you?' Then it dawned on him what he forgot to do this weekend.

"Oh, that's right," Zim said. "Dib wanted me to watch that movie with him. No matter, he probably watched it without me."

Zim continued walking to the bus stop until he passed Dib's house. To the corner of his eye, he saw Dib and Gaz exiting the house hold. Zim turned his head and walked over to them.

"Hey, guys." Zim said waving to Dib and Gaz.

"Good morning, Zim." Dib greeted him while Gaz stood silently next to her brother.

"Good morning, hey, sorry about missing that movie with you. I must have slipped my mind due to all the craziness the last couple of days." Zim explained to Dib.

"Don't worry about it." Dib grinned patting his shoulder. "That stuff always happens."

"So you're not mad?" Zim asked confused about Dib's forgiving nature.

"No, of course not. Sure yesterday was the last day to see it in theaters but I can always wait to see it when comes out on DVD in about six months. It's not a big deal."

"Really, you're not mad?" Zim questioned again.

"No, not at all." Dib smiled lying.

"That's a little unusual for you, but okay, if you're not mad, that's great. I'm glad you understand and willing to let go even though you did bug me about watching it a million times."

"Yes, but I have one question for you." Dib said breaking off topic.

"What's that?" Zim asked.

"What were you doing yesterday afternoon? I tried calling you to remind you about the movie but you never called back. What were you doing, Zim?" Dib asked Zim while Gaz watched awaiting Zim's response.

"Ummmm…I was studying." Zim said then started to walk away from them.

"Studying?" Dib repeated his excuse while he followed him to the bus stop.

"Yeah," Zim said. "I was studying that afternoon making up all the homework I missed last week."

"Did you have Mary over?" Dib asked.

"Yes, I did, I needed her to help me understand what I missed." Zim said.

"So you needed Mary to help you 'make-up' all the homework you missed?" Dib questioned raising an eye brow.

"Well, not all the homework. Just math. I did everything else myself."

"But you needed her help to 'make-up', right?" Dib said dropping the hint.

"Yeah…I needed her to help me with math homework. What part of that don't you understand?"

"Drop it, Dib, he doesn't get it." Gaz mumbled passing by them to stand at the bus stop.

"What?" Zim questioned Gaz. "What am I not getting?"

Gaz stood by the bus stop texting on her phone ignoring Zim's question.

"No, I understand completely, Zim." Dib said pointing to Zim. "I understand everything!"

"Okay…Creepy much…." Zim said and saw the bus pulling up to their stop. "I'm going on the bus. Let me know when you become less…creepy."

Gaz, Zim and Dib enter the bus and showed their passes to the driver. Dib was about to take his seat to the front. Dib was expecting Zim to take the seat across from him but saw he passed right by him. Dib turned his head and to his surprise he spotted Mary sitting in the back while Zim was walking towards her.

"Oh, man, this is way too easy." Dib said getting up making his way to the back. Zim took his seat next to Mary.

"Good morning Mary." Zim said sweetly. "How are you doing today?"

"I feel great," Mary said. "How are your shoulders?"

"Better," Zim said then slipped his hand into hers. "It was exactly what I needed."

Mary looked up to him and saw her cheeks were bright with the color he grew to love. He scooted a couple inches towards her squeezing her tight into the seat. He was about to kiss her until he saw Dib taking a seat behind them. Dib turned over to face the couple while Zim scooted away from Mary letting go of her hand. They remembered the secret they vowed to keep.

"So, Mary," Dib said catching her attention. "How is Zim doing with your tutoring lessons? Is he paying attention or is he wasting your time?"

"Cut it out, Dib." Zim said annoyed.

"What, Zim, don't get all defensive, I was just asking her a question."

"He's doing alright, he may be able to pass Mr. Holic's test if he keeps up the good work." Mary said smiling.

"That's if he is willing to keep up but I'm sure with all your lessons, he would be pro in no time." Dib smirked to her. Mary's head lowered while Zim grew angry.

"Okay, that's enough out of you!" Zim shouted.

"What?" Dib acted innocently. "What am I saying?"

"You know exactly what you're saying and I will not let you insult her." Zim said glaring at him. Dib met his glare then stood up.

"Fine…" Dib said backing away to another seat.

"What was that all about?" Mary asked Zim.

"I think he knows."

"Oh, does he hate me?"

"No, I think he's mad at me for some stupid reason." Zim said and sighed then he felt Mary's hand on his. He looked over at the girl who smiled warmly to him.

"Thank you for standing up for me." Mary said. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble between you and your brother."

"Mary, I wouldn't let my own robots talk crap about you."

"Zim,"

"Yes, Mary?"

"I love you." Mary said curling her fingers between his. Zim held her hand tighter and kissed her forehead. Dib watched in the distance when Zim kissed her. He saw how affectionate they were and it made him sick not because of their actions but for what he done out of spite of his friend's happiness.

"I hate myself." Dib said out loud and turned away. The bus stopped at the Hi Skool. Dib quickly boarded off the bus before anyone else and kept walking. At the entrance of the skool, there waited Josh, Tina and Brian. Josh waved to Dib.

"Hey, Dib, you ready for-"Josh greeted Dib but Dib walked right pass them without a second glance. "Okay…"

"Are we still doing it without him?" Brian asked his friends.

"Yes, it's our duty as friends to treat this situation with the upmost immaturity." Josh declared.

"Alright, here they come." Tina said nodding in their direction. Mary and Zim were walking hand in hand to the skool. They reached the entrance and saw their friends were there. They had the strangest expressions on their faces that made Zim suspicious. Zim stood in front of the posse then let go of Mary's hand.

"So, what are you all doing here?" Zim asked them while Mary stood by him wondering the same question.

"Oh, nothing," Josh said. "We just came here to sing, Zim and Mary sitting in a tree…"

Josh sang the first verse while Brian and Tina joined in.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love, second comes marriage, then comes an Irken-human hybrid in the baby carriage!"

"I made up that part!" Tina shouted claiming credit to the last verse.

"What the fuck!" Zim shouted while Mary slink away humiliated by their song. "How the hell do you guys know!"

"Dib told us." Tina informed him. "He said he saw you guys making out on your kitchen floor."

Tina chuckled at Zim's reaction igniting Josh and Brian into laughter.

"What? That weasel, I'll-" Zim was about to storm off until he felt Mary grabbed his hand. He looked down and saw she was upset her eyes swelling with tears.

"Please don't leave." Mary whispered to him.

"Don't worry, I won't." Zim said comforting her, and then stared back at the friends who were laughing at them.

"Stop laughing at us!" Zim screamed while Mary turned away hiding her tears.

"No, Zim, we're not laughing at you, we're laughing with you." Tina said then calmed herself down.

"Huh, but we're not laughing?" Zim questioned her.

"What she means is we think it's awesome that you guys are dating." Josh explained to them.

"Yeah, defiantly something pretty special." Brian agreed crossing his arms.

"Yes, you have our full support." Tina added in. Zim glanced at each of their smiling faces, and then glared at them.

"Let me get this straight," Zim spoke. "When you find out that I'm Irken, you freak out, but when I'm dating one of your friends, you think it's 'awesome'?"

"Yes," Tina said.

"You guys are crazy!" Zim exploded expressing his frustration. "Why didn't you think having an alien friend is awesome instead of attacking me, huh, huh,!"

"We all feel bad about what happened last weekend and want to make it up to you by not making a big deal out of you two." Brian explained.

"You sang a song to us! That's not making a big deal?" Zim screamed some more. A few students passing by heard his screaming and stopped to stare at them.

"We had to get it out of our system somehow. We thought doing it this way would be hilarious and show you guys that we're okay with it." Josh lowered his voice noticing their staring.

"You guys failed because I fail to see the humor of any of this!" Zim continued screaming.

"Zim, calm down." Josh advised hand gesturing to keep his voice down.

"No, I will not calm down!" Zim screamed. "This is embarrassing! I'm so angry at so many levels! First, Dib spying and ratting us out to you which was none of your guys' business anyways. Second, you guys singing that song telling me everything's okay and lastly, your stupid performance made Mary cry!"

They looked over at Mary. She was wiping away the tears from her eyes. Zim wrapped his arm around her and hugged her close.

"Well…" Mary muttered and then smirked awkwardly at them. "I'm a little upset that Dib saw us. Now I understand what he meant earlier which I find very cruel and then you guys singing that song. It sounded like you were making fun of us and the way I feel. I guess all this is very over whelming, so yes, I was crying."

"Sorry." Brian said feeling awful.

"Yeah, we're sorry." Josh admitted his remorse.

"Mary, sweetie, I'm am so sorry!" Tina said kneeling to her holding her hands. "Not just because of this but about me kissing Zim. I didn't know he was your boyfriend."

"To be fair, we weren't official until later." Mary informed her but Tina shook her head.

"No, don't make excuses for me. I broke the girl code. You have to let me make it up to you. I know! You and me, we're going shopping!"

Mary's sadness faded away by Tina's suggestion.

"Really," Mary asked smiling. "That sounds fun."

"Great, let's do it tomorrow, I can't today because I have stuff to do with my mom, but tomorrow for sure."

"Okay," Mary smirked.

"Hey, what do I get from having to feel the wrath of your lips?" Zim complained but Tina shot him a dirty look.

"You get nothing because you must have enjoyed it!" Tina accused him. Zim turned away from her glaring.

"You were very selfish…" Zim silently whined. He looked over at his friends, saw that Mary wasn't upset anymore and knew that he was done here. They knew they are dating and accepted it. He won the battle but not the war still having to face the arsonist who started all this commotion, Dib. Zim removed himself from Mary's side and marched up the stairs. Mary watched him leave with an intense look in his synthetic eyes and let him go while Josh was curious in his change of attitude.

"Hey, where are you going?" Josh asked.

"To give that jerk-off a piece of my mind! Oh, Dib, you're dead, you pig-weasel, Dib!" Zim ranted while he pushed open the front door and enter the skool departing them.

"Okay, good luck!" Josh wished him. Josh looked at his watch and told his friends that they should get to their classes while Zim was going to his, where his pain in the ass sat. He entered the classroom and scanned it until he saw him.

"You!" Zim shouted pointing at him. Dib heard him and turned his head to the screaming alien that addressed him across the classroom. Dib didn't look him in the eyes and turned away. Zim saw his distant reaction to his shout then sighed. He wanted to shout more but he was so exhausted from being so angry that had to let it go for now.

"Zim, get in your seat!" Mr. Holic demanded who was sitting in his desk. "Class is about to start."

"Yes,Sir," Zim said and walked into the room.

"Have you completed all your homework?" Mr. Holic asked.

"Yes," Zim said and fished in his notebook and retrieved his homework. "I have it right here." Zim held out the papers for Mr. Holic but he didn't take it. "Sir," Zim said finishing his sentence. Mr. Holic took his work and he walked to his desk.

'Are you deaf too?' Zim thought while taking his seat. Mr. Holic began his lessons as Zim and the rest of his peers took notes. Zim listened carefully being detailed with his note writing knowing full well that this might be on the exam. Zim occasionally glanced over at Dib. He saw that Dib was silently taking notes without asking any questions which was unusual because he would have a question about everything. He just sat there taking notes. Dib did catch Zim's glance once but quietly looked forward continuing his note taking. When class was over, Dib stood up and fast-walked out of the classroom avoiding him. Zim watched him leave, groaned and followed right behind him to gym class. Zim knew Dib was upset about something which concerned him. Zim found it strange because he should be upset about his behavior towards him and Mary but he was more curious for why his friend did this more than how angry he felt. Somehow, he thought partially it was his fault too. When his class changed and entered the gymnasium, Mr. Millmere thought it was a perfect cold morning to have them out at the track field for free day. Play Frisbee, football, walk the track, whatever as long as they were active. Zim found Dib sitting on the bottom row of the metal bleachers. Dib looked up and saw Zim standing looking back down.

"Okay, Zim, if you come to beat me up, do it now before the teacher stops you. Don't hold back." Dib said flinching closing his eyes. "A scuzz-bag like me deserves no mercy."

"I'm not here to beat you up." Zim said finally.

"You're not?" Dib said opening his eyes. "How come? Aren't you full of rage for what I done, pretty much calling Mary a slut, telling those guys about your affairs and making a joke about it. Doesn't that make you angry at all?"

Zim felt his anger rise hearing him say Mary and slut in the same sentence, but took a deep breath calming himself down before he had the nerve to bash Dib's head into the bleachers.

"It does," Zim said clutching his fists. "Believe me, it makes me very angry but because you chose to be the immature one here, I decided it would be best to play the adult. I know, way out of character but I feel it's the best way to handle the situation before things get severed between us. All I want to know is why? Why did you do this? What made you think this was okay?"

"Hey," Someone called out to them. It was Mr. Millmere. He walked up to them.

"Looks like we'll have to talk about this later." Dib muttered. Zim glared at him trying to avoid talking to him and thought up a plan.

"Enough idle chit-chat." Mr. Millmere said. "You have to either walk around or play a sport or you get a zero."

"Sorry, Mr. Millmere, we were discussing a family matter, you see Dib's dog, Skippy, was hit by a car last night." Zim said while acting distressed.

"Oh," Mr. Millmere said then hesitated. "I'm so sorry."

"Yes, it was horrible sight to see, it was a hit and run. We rushed him to the vet but it was too late to save Skippy. The poor thing was losing so much blood that there was nothing they could do. He died five minutes later when he arrived. Dib, he had Skippy for years since he was little. He's just trying to get over the shock of it all. I was just trying to help him cope but it's okay if you want us to participate. You are our teacher and looking out for our best interest so I'll be jogging away."

"No, wait," Mr. Millmere said. "Take as much time as you need to talk. I'll check on the board that you two participated."

"Thank you, Sir, you are very kind."

"That poor dog…" Mr. Millmere whimpered as he walked away. Zim smiled at Dib amazed by his lying skills.

"Now we have plenty of time to talk."

"You're evil." Dib muttered.

"You're just as evil for not calling out my bluff."

"Just leave me alone."

"I can't do that until I know your motive."

"I was angry, okay!" Dib snapped.

"What were you angry about?" Zim asked.

"About how you ditched me to be with Mary and then you lied about it. I gave you a chance to come clean but you kept on lying. Why did you have to lie? If you wanted to be with her yesterday you could have called me and told me but I waited for you to show up at my house, you never came and before I could get you, I missed the bus to catch the movie on time. You didn't have to hide. I would have understand. I-"

Zim put his hand over Dib's mouth to stop him.

"Shut up for a minute." Zim said. Dib leaned away from him while Zim lost his grip.

"If I would have let you keep on ranting, you would have wasted the whole period and I would like to have this resolved before lunch time."

Dib nodded, and then let Zim talk.

"The truth is Mary and I decided to keep our relationship a secret because we didn't want to create uproar. I knew, well, I thought I knew you wouldn't make a thing about it, but those guys, we weren't sure so we decided to keep quiet about it until things settle down. Now the secret is out and it's fine, apparently but that's not the point. So yes, I did hide it from you however, I didn't lie. What I was saying was true. I did go over to return the notebook but she let me keep it and I did tutor with her also."

"So you didn't lie?" Dib finally said.

"Yes, I'm sorry for not being completely honest and forgetting about our plans. I'm sorry, that was irresponsible of me."

"I'm sorry for being overdramatic and stupid about the whole thing. I let my anger get the best of me and let it rule my actions."

"It happens to the best of us, but I'm not the only one you need to apologize to. You have to apologize to Mary."

"She must think I'm an asshole."

"Asshole is not the impression you want to leave on her, but yes, she probably thinks so. Watching us make-out. You weren't watching us, were you?" Zim looked at him distrustful.

"No, I just caught you guys by accident wondering where you were. I looked away." Dib said.

"Okay, like I was saying, seeing us make out, telling her friends that she was with me on the kitchen floor, not exactly the reputation she wants spreading around the skool and you told the two blabber mouths. Sure, Josh and Tina could slip up and say I'm an alien and people would think that they're crazy, but slipping out that? She would have a terrible year. Good thing she expressed why she was upset. They won't think twice about spreading that gossip around for her sake."

"You must really love her." Dib stated.

"Yes, I do." Zim didn't deny.

"I can tell the way you stood up to me to protect her."

"I won't let anyone bring her down. They want to insult her, they'll have to go through me and I'm not translucent."

"So, tell me, how did the magic happen between you two? Were you romantic?" Dib teased him. Dib caught him blushing.

"I was honest, I told her what I felt and…"

"Spilled your guts?"

"Yes," Zim admitted.

"Ha, ha, you sucker!"

"What?" Zim said looking at him perplexed.

"You're just like the rest of us. You're a sucker for love!" Dib said smiling, and then laughed at him. Zim thought about what he said and agreed.

"I guess you're right. I'm not so different to you humans after all."

They both laughed for awhile, and then calmed down. Zim sat next to Dib. Despite their laughter, Zim knew something else might have been troubling him. Then he remembers he wasn't with Gretchen anymore which popped a certain question in his head.

"Dib, do you still love Gretchen?" Zim asked. Dib looked over to him and saw he wasn't mocking him that he was asking him a serious question.

"Yes, I do. She broke my heart but I still have feelings for her. She doesn't want anything to do with me. I thought we would last but we were not compatible in the end. I can't go back to her. I have to move on." Dib said then turned to face Zim. "I guess a part of me that did those horrible things was jealous."

"At Me? Why?" Zim asked.

"Because it looked like you found someone that really connects to you while I can't." Dib admitted feeling ashamed.

"Dib, green is not a very good color on you, but it makes me look awesome." Zim joked to him.

"I know." Dib whined.

"Are you going to go back to your hobby or work with your Dad?" Zim asked placing his elbows on his lap while holding up his head on his hands.

"I was thinking we could hang out more often." Dib suggested.

"Hmmm…I don't know, I have a girlfriend now, so hanging out might be a little complicated." Zim teased Dib hiding his smile behind his hands.

"Oh," Dib said taking him seriously.

"Unless, you're on your best behavior; I don't see why you can't hang out with Mary and I."

"No, no, I'll respect your guys' privacy." Dib said waving off the idea.

"And I'll do a better job remembering not to ditch you next time which isn't fair because you ditched me plenty ol' times to be with your girlfriends."

"Since when?" Dib protested his claim.

"Prime example, Science Technology, the plasma cannon project."

"You're never going to let that go?" Dib asked annoyed by his grudge.

"No, I have to work extra hard and try to make up the credits for that class too." Zim complained.

"Hey, if it wasn't for me and my laziness, you wouldn't have come close to Mary." Dib pointed out.

"That's true, but it's still a pain in my rear."

"Come on," Dib whined. "You should be thanking me for causing that inconvenience."

"I'm not thanking you for anything!" Zim shouted.

"Okay! Everyone, class is over, get in the gym before the bell rings!" Mr. Millmere shouted in his megaphone. Zim and Dib joined the pack as they walked off the field pass their teacher. After changing, Zim went to English class and gave his teacher the homework he missed. Then he took his seat and they read the whole period. Before he knew it, it was lunch time and Zim departed the classroom. Zim walked to his locker carrying his English book.

"This story is pretty good," Zim praised his reading assignment. "Who knew Shakespeare could be that interesting."

He opened his locker and put his book away. He was walking to the cafeteria until he caught Dib in the crowd. Zim called out to him. Dib hearing him turned around and waved to him. Zim walked to his friend.

"Zim, do you know where Mary's locker is?" Dib asked. "I want to apologize to her."

"Well, you don't need to go; she's coming down the hall right now." Zim said. Zim pointed over Dib's shoulder and Dib turned around. They saw Mary walking to them. Mary saw Zim was waiting for her and smiled, and then she stopped and noticed the person standing next to him. She stopped and glared at Dib. Dib noticed her glare and smiled at her, but that made her even angrier. She stomped right towards him.

"I'm a pro, huh!" Mary screamed at Dib. "You're more of a pro than me you pervert!"

After saying what she needed to say, Mary rushed right by him.

"Whoa, whoa, Mary!" Zim said catching up to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Come back, Dib wants to say something to you and it's not going to hurt. Trust me."

Mary stopped, and then nodded to Zim as he led her back to Dib.

"Come on, Dib, what do you have to say?" Zim hinted to Dib.

"Sorry Mary, for what happened on the bus, for everything, and I promise I didn't watch you guys, I stumbled upon it on accident, but you can call me a pervert if you like or even an asshole because that's how I was to you which isn't fair. You're actually a very good person. I just hope we can still be friends but if not that's cool, I understand."

Mary heard his apology, and then smiled.

"Of course we can be friends." Mary said. "I forgive you."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh." Mary said while nodding.

"Oh, thank you, I promise I won't be a jerk to you again." Dib swore.

"And if you are, I'll just sic Zim on you." Mary said happily.

"What?" Dib shouted mortified.

"Well, if that's what she wants me to do if you misbehave, I'll do it. Next time, I won't hold back." Zim said wrapping his arm around Mary. "Come on; let's join the others shall we?"

Zim and Mary walked together leaving Dib scared of him coming doom. Dib ran, following them begging for mercy.

"Whoa, wait a minute, Mary, do you know what he will do to me!" Dib said pleading to her. "He's worst than Gaz! He'll kill me! Could you give me a warning instead of beating me up?"

"That was you're warning." Zim spoke.

"That's not a very good warning." Dib complained. Zim stopped and looked to Mary.

"Mary, do you hear a jerk complaining?" Zim said to her.

"Okay, okay, I'll be nice!" Dib cut in before she answered. Dib followed them into the cafeteria quietly keeping the new couple happy.


	32. Mall Escapades

It's Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 32: Mall Escapades

Zim entered the hallway after his last class of the day. He stretched his arms and shouted.

"Freedom! How it feels so good!"

"Done for the day?"

Zim looked over his shoulder to who had addressed his outburst. It was Mary. She stood shyly behind him waiting for his answer. Zim turned around and saw she was carrying a few books. Mary moved her books into her left arm and slipped her right hand into Zim's. Zim accepted her hand and began walking in the hallways together.

"Yes, I'm done." Zim said then caught a glimmer of light passing by the skool's window. "But the day isn't. It's turning out to be a nice Monday afternoon."

Mary stopped in her tracks, and then looked up at Zim funny. He noticed her bizarre gesture and looked strangely at her as well.

"Zim, today is Tuesday." Mary said to him.

"It is?" Zim questioned her then scratched his chin.

"Yes," Mary said while nodding.

"Then what did I do yesterday?" Zim asked her.

"You went to work, remember?" Mary recalled trying to refresh his memory.

"Oh, yeah…" Zim said. "Now I remember."

* * *

"When I was in surgery to put in a metal plate in my head after the accident, they said I died for about five minutes, but I didn't see a white light or anything. It never existed. There is no heaven or hell, you die that's it."

"That's very fascinating," Zim said a little disturbed by the stranger's divulging of his personal life. Zim stood behind his register staring at elderly man who was scratching at the stitches on the top of his head in his bright white hair. "Could you please pay for your gum, there are other people waiting."

"Hey," One customer shouted standing inline. "We don't pay you to socialize! Do your damn job!"

"Ohhh…" Zim sighed as the man finally paid for his pack of gum.

* * *

"That is why I wanted to forget about yesterday." Zim said looking back on the incident. Then he stared back down at Mary. "So it's Tuesday, have any plans?"

"Yes, Tina and I were planning to go to the mall."

"Really, I don't have to work, do you mind if I tag along?" Zim asked hoping she would say yes.

"I don't mind if it's okay with Tina."

"Great, let's put our stuff away and go already." Zim said excited by the idea. Mary nodded then they walked by her locker to put away her books first. Zim held her backpack open as she put in her notebook and a couple of slim textbooks.

"I think this is why they assigned locker buddies." Zim commented on the complexity of book packing.

"They assigned locker buddies because of lack of lockers, not to help the other out." Mary stated. "I don't ever see my locker buddy. Probably comes here earlier, later or never uses it."

"True, but not in my case," Zim said then helped put her backpack on. "Dib's my locker buddy. I made it perfectly clear I wasn't sharing my locker with anyone else."

"Oh, that's kind of cool that you got to choose." Mary admitted leaning on her locker. Zim cupped his hand to her right cheek.

"How about we share a locker next year?" Zim said while caressing her cheek. Mary glanced at his hand then back at Zim who was leaning closer to her.

"That would be convenient for both of us." Mary whispered to him.

"That would be the plan." Zim said then lifted her chin slightly as he came close.

"Okay!" Somebody shouted, and then clapped his hands very loud. "That's enough love birds!"

They turned over to see it was Dib who was clapping at them.

"Dib!" Zim shouted then pointed at him. "You're just about everywhere, aren't you?"

"Wow," Dib said ignoring Zim's question. "Was I always like this with Gretchen when you stood by watching us?"

"No, we are twice as hot as you two!" Zim shouted.

"Hot?" Mary questioned Zim's view of their relationship.

"As if," Dib laughed. "Interspecies dating is not hot, it's not even a trend."

"We'll make it a trend!" Zim shouted back while Mary tried lowering his arm.

"Zim, please, lower your voice." Mary told him.

"Better listen to her, you don't want to get caught, unless it's part of the interspecies trend." Dib chuckled to him.

"Why are you here?" Zim snapped at Dib.

"No reason, just passing by, oh yeah, and the buses are running five minutes earlier so don't be late." Dib warned Zim.

"That's not a problem because I'm not taking the bus." Zim boldly spoke. "I'm going to the mall with Mary and Tina."

"I thought those two are only going." Dib said.

"Right now, until I ask her, there is no reason she would say no, Mary's alright with it." Zim boasted.

"I wanna go to the mall." Dib whined to them.

"Then quit your whining and come with us." Zim said aggravated. Dib rolled his eyes and walked beside Zim and Mary as they went to their locker. Dib looked over at Mary who was holding Zim's hand and thought of a funny idea.

"Hey, Mary." Dib said. Mary looked up at Dib. "Did you know Zim used to steal our classmates' organs when we were kids?"

"Yes, Zim told me." Mary said then smiled.

"What? And you're okay with it?" Dib questioned shocked by her acceptance. Zim overhearing the conversation laughed at Dib.

"Ah ha ha ha!" Zim evilly laughed. "Your attempt of slandering my reputation has failed for I have told her my darkest secret before you could! Ha, ha!"

"I'm not slandering anything, you no good organ stealing bastard." Dib shouted. "Keeping my lungs hostage!"

"Zim, I thought you said you returned everyone's organs." Mary repeated what he told her.

"About that…" Zim mumbled rubbing his neck.

"Oh, sure he returned their organs and everyone was fine and dandy but not me!" Dib screamed. "He kept my lungs for weeks until I had no choice but to reach into his mouth and grab them. It was disgusting."

"Ewww…" Mary moaned, then lightly smacked Zim's arm with the back of her hand. "Zim, why didn't you return his lungs?"

"He was my mortal enemy at the time. What was I suppose to do, cough them up."

"You could have to make the experience a lot easier." Dib said and turned to Mary. "I had to reach my whole arm down into Zim's esophagus to retrieve my lungs; so much saliva! He vomited a lot but I held on to them no matter how much he threw up on me."

"Ewwww!" Mary screamed then covered her mouth. "Too much information…I'm going, I'm going to see if Tina's ready."

Mary walked away quickly leaving them to try to forget what she heard. Zim punched Dib in the arm.

"Now, why did you have to tell her that? You scared away my girlfriend."

"Hey, you're the one who ate the organs, not me." Dib said. "I thought she should know."

"Do me a favor and not tell anyone else." Zim asked of him. "It took a lot of convincing to explain to our friends that I'm not evil and I don't want it to be undone."

"Fine…" Dib sighed and agreed.

"Now tell me what I should do about Mary?" Zim asked Dib.

"She's your girlfriend, you figure it out." Dib smirked then walked away from him. Zim growled, opened his locker, and grabbed the books he needed. He walked through the hallways mumbling out loud.

"Stupid, Dib. Had to be a jerk and scare away Mary. I hate him so much sometimes, I…" Zim stopped and saw Mary standing in front of him.

"Mary, I can explain about earlier, you see-"

"You don't need to." Mary interrupted looking away. "Sometimes we do strange things we are not proud of and well, you guys must have done a lot."

"We were the worst of enemies, him and me. He would throw buckets of water on me and I would use my experiments on him. It's a surprise we didn't kill each other." Zim admitted.

"Then I guess I'll have to get used to hearing all about your strange adventures." Mary said then wrapped her arm around Zim's waist. She laid her head upon his chest and looked up to him. "Because I don't care what you did, I still love you."

Zim wrapped his arm around her waist; bent down to kiss but she lowered her head.

"But, I don't think we should kiss until I get the image of Dib sticking his arm in your throat out of my head. I don't want to throw up on you." Mary said then covered her mouth.

"Fair enough, I don't want you to throw up on me either." Zim said backing away. "It would burn…" He grabbed her hand then walked with her outside into skool yard among the students in the parking lot. "Do you know where Tina's parked?"

"No, I don't." Mary confessed.

"I think we'll find her." Zim said. "How hard is it to find a hyperactive tall girl with bouncing blond pig-tails?" Zim scanned over the crowd of students entering or hanging around their cars until he found the girl who met his description. "There she is."

He pointed to her for Mary. They walked towards Tina and saw she wasn't alone. Standing around her was Brian and Josh.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Zim pointed to them.

"We are going to the mall." Josh said to Zim and Mary. "Why are you here, Zim?"

"Mary invited me to go to the mall with her." Zim said wrapping his arm around Mary.

"I did." Mary agreed.

"Well, this can't work." Tina said comparing her friends to how many people she could fit in her car. "I only have room for four people including myself."

"That's easy invite Josh and I." Zim offered a solution. "It could be a couple outing."

"That's not fair." Brian said displease.

"Brian, don't you have a girlfriend, hang out with her." Zim said to Brian.

"I can't. She's has choir after skool." Brian said.

"Wait!" Shouted an anonymous voice. The person they recognized was Dib running towards them. "You have to invite me to the mall."

"And what purpose would you serve if Tina were to invite you?" Zim asked annoyed.

"It would be very nice if she did since I am still getting over losing my girlfriend." Dib acted sadly to her.

"Get your ride somewhere else you pathetic moocher!" Zim argued to Dib.

"At least I would be more fun than you. You would only want to make out with Mary while they go shopping." Dib accused.

"Will not, I would go shopping too." Zim protested to Dib.

"Do you even have money?" Dib asked.

"Ummm…Yes!" Zim lied.

"What happened to just you and me shopping?" Tina questioned to Mary as they watched Zim and Dib argue.

"Guys, guys," Josh interfered. "There's no point in arguing over who's going in Tina's car because her, Mary and I are going and that's that."

"Way to stick it to your best friend, man." Brian commented annoyed by Josh's choice.

"Since when were you my best friend?" Josh asked him.

"Since you told me before we invaded Zim's house." Brian recalled.

"That was a matter of expression!" Josh denied.

"Well, you could invite me too with you guys. You would have enough space."

"And what fun would you be?" Josh said. "Read a book while we are shopping around, fun."

Tina and Mary watched as the guys argued over who would go to the mall with their friends or sweethearts. Meanwhile Gaz was walking beside the mess of argumentative boys and spotted Tina's car. She went along the front of Tina's car and glides her fingers on the ultra violet hood.

"Nice…" Gaz said admiring the body of the car. "Is this a compact Scenario?"

"Yes, it is." Tina said. "It's a fairly new model my father bought for my birthday. Pretty sweet, huh?"

"The way this car runs, it is pretty sweet." Gaz admitted.

"Hey, you played paintball with us one time, right?" Tina asked recognizing the girl.

"Yes, I'm Dib and Zim's less annoying little sister, though I wouldn't want to be theirs right now." Gaz commented as he watched Zim steal Dib's glasses.

"Give those back!" Dib demanded stumbling to find Zim in his blurry vision.

"What fun will you have if you can't see! Mwha ha ha!" Zim evilly laughed dangling the glasses in front of Dib. Gaz shook her head, and then glanced back at Tina and Mary.

"Do you want to go to the mall with Mary and me?" Tina asked her.

"Sure," Gaz accepted while shrugging her shoulders. "I wanted to go by there and buy my new game anyways."

"Cool, let's go." Tina said as she unlocked her car. Tina entered the driver's seat while Gaz took the front passenger and Mary sat in the back. Tina started her car and reversed out of her parking spot. The boys saw her reserve and stopped arguing with each other to address Tina. Zim and Dib saw Gaz in the front seat and glared at her.

"Hey, what about us?" Josh asked his girlfriend. Tina, hearing his shout, rolled down her window.

"You guys can hang out and be chummy with each other." Tina shouted. "This is a girls' outing!"

Tina drives away leaving the boys dumbfounded with rejection. Dib looked over at his rejected men and asked.

"So…you wanna hang out at my house?"

"Okay," Brian said while Zim and Josh shrugged their shoulders. They followed Dib to the bus stop. Meanwhile, Tina was driving her friends to the City's Mall. Mary, sitting behind Gaz, stared at the girl with much curiosity.

'Zim's technical younger sister…' Mary thought. 'She must know a lot about Zim and have some interesting stories to tell too.'

Gaz glanced up at the rear view window spotting Mary staring at her. Gaz turned around and glared back at her.

"What are you looking at?" Gaz sneered at her.

"Oh, nothing…" Mary said then caught a glimpse of her skull necklace. "I was just admiring your necklace. It's nice. I like it."

"What, this old thing?" Gaz said picking up the skull pendant holding it between her fingers. "Had it when I was eight."

"It must mean a lot to you wearing it for so long."

"No, not really. I just like it because it looks cool. Kind of my symbol. Not really original but it's a symbol of part of my personality."

"And what personality is that?" Mary asked.

"I'm a badass." Gaz smirked to her.

"Wow…" Mary said amazed not quite sure what to say to her. "I wished I had something like that."

"A badass symbol?" Gaz questioned her.

"No, a necklace that represented my personality. I don't have any necklaces or jewelry."

"Nobody gave you any jewelry? Not even your own parents?" Gaz questioned surprised.

"No," Mary commented. Gaz turned around, rolled down the window, pulled a cigarette out of her coat pocket, lit it, then took a deep puff from it and exhaled.

"That's just fuckin' sad." Gaz commented. Mary heard her and brushed aside her comment for she was given something much greater than any strand of silver or gold could ever out match. The Striking Gem and it was her own little secret.

"Gaz, please don't smoke in the car." Tina asked her politely. Gaz exhaled the smoke from her mouth then put out the cigarette on the rim of Tina's window. She stuck the halfie in her pocket.

"Are we almost there?" Gaz asked Tina.

"Yep, just about." Tina said then turned into the parking center outside the mall. Tina circled around the parking lot to find a place to park. After about three minutes of searching, they eventually found a parking spot close to the Mall's entrance. They got out of her car. Tina locked her car pressing her automatic car lock on her key chain and ran to the mall.

"Yay!" Tina screamed, and then she turned to her friends who were walking. "Come on, run with me!"

Mary stared at her friend, and then decided to run with her anyways while Gaz kept on walking. They ran into the J.C. Enney and they gazed around the store amazed at the new fashions for spring aligning the stores' aisles. Tina put her hand on Mary's shoulder and smiled to her.

"Pick out whatever you like. I'm buying." Tina told.

"Oh, you don't have to." Mary waved off her kind gesture.

"No, I insist. Get whatever you like." Tina said. "I'm always seeing you wear that maroon sweater. It's time for a change of scenery." Tina went to a circle of hanging shirts and pulled out a green blouse. "How about this one?"

Mary peered at the light green blouse with ribbons laced around the sleeves.

"I don't think that would suit me." Mary shyly answered. Tina held the shirt in front of Mary and nodded.

"You're right." Tina said. "Too frilly."

Tina placed the shirt back on the rack. Gaz entered the store and found Mary and Tina searching through clothes and joined them. Mary shuffled through the racks of clothes with her friends and found nothing she would want to wear. She walked along the aisles to the perfume section. She saw a sample display of a new perfume on the little table. She picked up the bottle and sprayed a few squirts in the air. She wafts the new aroma towards her admiring the scent.

"Pretty…" Mary described it. Gaz walked over to see what she was doing. Mary notice Gaz was standing next to her. "This scent smells so sweet. It smells like raspberries."

"You should get it." Gaz commented then smiled to her. "Zim loves raspberries."Mary blushed, and then turned her head stunned by her statement. "It's his favorite fruit next to strawberries. He really likes strawberries."

"So…" Mary sighed. "Dib must have told you I'm dating Zim?"

"Yeah, I think he told everyone." Gaz said. "His mouth is as big as his head. It's very irritating."

"Mary, Mary!" Tina screamed running to them waving a top in the air. "I found something that is just perfect for you!"

Tina showed Mary the blouse she found. It was a sleeveless hot pink blouse with a low cut V-neck.

"I don't think it will fit me well." Mary said staring at the puffiness of the shirt.

"Why not?" Tina asked.

"I'm too small." Mary said looking down at her chest. Tina looked at her chest then back at the top in her hands.

"Oh…." Tina said realizing the top would be too revealing. "Oops, let me find you a smaller size."

"No, that's okay." Mary said taking the blouse out Tina's hands and put it on the rack beside her. "I found what I want to get."

"Oh, let me see it."

Mary handed Tina the sample perfume bottle. Tina squirted the perfume on in the air and smelled it.

"That smells wonderful, oh yes; I'm definitely buying this for you." Tina said taking her arm and dragging her to the counter.

"Ow, let go, Tina." Mary whined trying to pull away from her.

"No, the power of love is telling me to bring you along for I am your new girlfriend. Zim has nothing on me." Tina smiled holding her arm.

"But I don't want to be your girlfriend." Mary protested.

"What?" Tina acted offended. "Why not? Don't you think I'm sexy?"

Tina posed in front of Mary while Mary backed away.

"No…" Mary mumbled.

"You're mean!" Tina snapped at her, pouted, then let go of Mary's arm. Mary rubbed her arm then glanced at Tina who had her back turned. She saw she was mad. Mary sighed then put her arm on her shoulder.

"Tina, I was kidding, you are…" Mary said then paused to brace herself for the compliment. "Very sexy."

Tina gasped, turned around and hugged her.

"I'm happy now, thank you my dear!" Tina shouted squeezing Mary between her breasts.

"Can't…breathe…" Mary managed to speak while feeling Tina's grip grow tighter. Gaz snickered at the sight of Mary suffering from Tina's hug while she was on her phone texting. Then she opened a new message and texted Zim.

Zim, who was sitting in Dib's living room with Josh, Dib and Brian watching T.V., received the message. Zim heard his phone beep, and then clicked on the message sent from Gaz. It read.

'Tina is smothering Mary with her boobs.'

"What?" Zim spoke out loud confused by her message, then texted her back.

'Tell her to stop.'

Zim shook his head and turned to Dib who saw him texting.

"That was Gaz, the girls seem to be having fun, whatever girls do for fun, I guess." Zim said unsure looking down at his phone wondering about the strange text. Josh overhearing Zim's statement heavily sighed while flipping through the channels trying to find something descent to watch. He couldn't after two-hundred channels later. Josh stared aggravated by the T.V.

"This sucks!" Josh exclaimed throwing the remote on the floor.

"Hey!" Dib snapped, picked up the remote and put it back on the table. "Don't go throwing stuff around just because you're mad."

"I'm sorry but why does those guys get to go to the mall and we have to stay here?"

"Nobody says we have to stay here." Dib said irritated. "And what's wrong with my house?"

"Nothing…" Josh muttered.

"They probably didn't want to invite us because they knew we would be bored." Brian stated. "And we would be waiting for them to try on different clothes. It would be like shopping with my sisters again which I don't understand why I wanted to go."

"Yeah, that would be boring." Josh admitted. Josh stood holding up his fist. "Guys, we have to do something!"

"What do you want to do, hyper-Josh?" Zim asked.

"I don't know." Josh said then sat back down.

"I am kind hungry." Dib said rubbing his belly. "We can go out to eat."

"Let's go to the convenience store on 158th." Josh suggested. "It's in walking distance so we don't have to take the bus."

"Cool. I want a suck-monkey." Dib said.

"Ditto." Brian replied.

"I don't want a suck-monkey." Zim disagreed.

"Then get something else." Josh rudely advised.

"Fine, I'll get a bag of chips or something." Zim sighed.

Dib, Brian, Josh and Zim got up and left Dib's house. They walked outside the neighborhood and a couple of blocks down to the convenience store. The store, at the time, was deserted. The only living being in the building was the cashier who looked really bored reading a dirty magazine. Josh peered at the man reading the magazine through the window, then back at Zim who was checking the phone booth for change.

"Hey, look, I found a quarter!" Zim shouted showing the guys.

"That's great Zim, but I have a better idea." Josh said.

"Finding a quarter was an idea?" Zim questioned him.

"No, but I have an awesome idea for a prank." Josh replied.

"Oooo…let's hear it." Zim said intrigued.

"Zim, you enter the store without your disguise." Josh said.

"That's it?" Zim questioned not impressed.

"Yeah, wouldn't that be funny?" Josh said smiling.

"That sounds really lame." Zim replied.

"Come on, Josh," Dib butted in. "Zim can't go around without his disguise. They might call the cops."

"And tell them what? An alien went into my store to buy a bag of cheesy puffs?"

"I like cheesy puffs but it's too risky." Zim said. "I won't do it."

"Fine, then I double dog dare you to do it." Josh exclaimed pointing at Zim.

"What are you five? That's not going convince me."

"Dude, if I was from another planet I would go around and freak out everybody."

"Are you off your medication?" Zim questioned his weird behavior.

"No, I took it this morning." Josh recalled.

"Then you're crazy! I would never do that!"

"Why, are you scared?" Josh smirked at him.

"Of course not." Zim said crossing his arms.

"Then why won't you do it?"

"Ummmm…because I-"

"It's just one guy, Zim, one guy that will see you and piss himself. Now, do you see that as worth something?"

"It would be funny to see his reaction." Zim admitted thinking about it.

"Yes, very." Josh said while nodding.

"What the hell, Zim, you should do it." Dib finally gave in. "If he gives you any trouble, we'll back you up."

"Definitely." Brian said then nodded too.

"Okay, I'll do it." Zim said taking off his wig and contacts, then handed them to Dib to put in his cloak's pocket. They all entered the store. The store clerk kept his eyes on his magazine while they entered. The clerk glanced at the teenagers, and then he noticed Zim. The clerk put his magazine down and stared at Zim examining his eyes and antennas while Zim stared back at him. Zim smiled awkwardly then waved to him.

"Hi, how you doing?" Zim stumbled while asking.

"Fine…" The clerk said staring at Zim. Josh, Brian and Dib snickered in response to what the clerk said then walked to the slushy machine to prepare their monkeys. Zim turned away from the clerk and joined them. Zim felt sweat drew from his forehead feeling the presence of the clerk's stare. Dib noticed Zim's uncomfortable state.

"What's wrong? Nervous?" Dib asked concerned.

"Yes, very." Zim admitted crossing his arms.

"You shouldn't be. I don't think he cares." Josh said looking back at clerk who was staring at them. Josh snickered at the clerk. "Okay, maybe a little."

"Could you hurry and fill your cups. I want to get outta here." Zim said feeling his anxiety level rising.

"Aren't you getting anything?" Brian asked.

"I don't want anything." Zim muttered.

"Come on, Zim. You have to get something." Josh teased him.

"I don't need to Josh!" Zim shouted at him.

"Okay, he doesn't have to." Dib said to Josh putting his hand on his shoulder. "Let's pay for our stuff and go."

Dib lead the way to the register while Brian, Josh and Zim followed behind him. Dib, Josh and Brian placed their drinks on the counter. They watched the clerk look up at Zim while he typed each cup's price into the computer to ring up a final sale. Josh slipped out a chuckle while watching the clerk's face. The clerk stopped typing and glared at the group.

"It's going to be $5.50. Do you guys think it's funny? Dressing one of your friends like… What are you suppose to be anyways?" The clerk asked looking at Zim.

"An alien." Zim told the clerk.

"Uh-huh," The clerk said. "Why don't you do something with your life instead of trying to scare people with your cheap costume? This job is hard enough as it is to have people dress up, come into my store and wonder if they are going to rob me, okay."

"Okay." Zim peeped.

"Okay," The clerk said. Dib handed him their money and he gave back their change. Josh, Dib and Brian picked up their suck-monkeys. Zim opened the door and walked out while they followed him.

"Have a nice day, you losers!" The clerk shouted at them. Brian heard him, turned around and gave him the finger before he left and exit the store.

"That was hilarious!" Josh shouted then laughed.

"He called me cheap! I'm not cheap!" Zim complained.

"Don't worry, Zim. I flipped him off for you." Brian said smiling to Zim.

"At least you backed me up, unlike those two." Zim said glaring back at Dib and Josh who were giggling like morons.

"I'm sorry, Zim, Would you like me to go back into the store to tell him that you are an alien?" Dib offered while laughing.

"No, just gimme back my stuff." Zim demanded. Dib reached into his pocket and gave Zim his wig and contacts. Zim put the wig carefully on his head then prepared to put the contacts on.

"Hey, awesome eyes, man!"

Zim turned slightly to see a young man who looked a little older than him addressing him. He had neon dark blue slacks and jacket slightly covering his velvet colored shirt. He wore sun glasses and had a red stripe in his black gelled hair.

"Where did you get them?" The man questioned Zim admiring his eye balls. "They look so realistic!"

"Ummm…What do you mean?"

"Ha, ha, you're contacts of course, what else would I be complimenting. Those contacts would be awesome to wear at a rave especially if they are glow-in-the-dark. Are they glow-in-the-dark?"

"Sometimes…" Zim said to the weirdo, and then started to walk away. Dib, Brian and Josh laughed while they walked away with Zim.

"Hey, don't leave me hanging!" The man shouted to Zim. "Where you buy them?"

"He bought them on Ebuy!" Josh shouted back to him.

"Shut up!" Zim shouted elbowing Josh. Zim quickly slipped on his contacts while he continued to walk. "That's enough excitement for the day."

"I have another idea." Josh suggested.

"Does it involve me without my disguise again?" Zim asked annoyed.

"Yes," Josh smirked.

"No more ideas involving me, okay?"

"Why, I don't see why you're against it."

"It feels like I'm being exposed!" Zim expressed his embarrassment.

"I don't see how." Josh admitted.

"You don't see how exposing that was for me?" Zim asked.

"Nope," Josh said sipping on his slushy while walking.

"Okay…" Zim said glaring back at Josh who was walking away from him. Zim stopped and let Josh pass him. Without a second thought, Zim grabbed Josh's pants and pulled them down to his ankles showing his underwear. Dib and Brian saw what happened and laughed at him.

"Nice whitey tighteys." Brian laughed at Josh.

"Ahhhhh!" Josh screamed and dropped his slushy to pull up his pants. "What the hell, Zim!"

"Now you know how I feel." Zim commented pleased by his action. Josh looked over at Dib and Brian laughing at him, and then back at Zim who was giving him a clever smirk.

"Touché, Zim, touché." Josh finally said snapping the button of his pants. "Awww. My monkey spilled on the side walk. Zim, you owe me a new monkey!"

"I'm not going back in there." Zim replied.

"Ah, then forget about it." Josh said picking up the plastic cup and throwing it in a nearby garbage can. He reached into his pocket to get his phone so he could text Tina to tell her what has happened to him.

"My poor baby!" Tina sympathetically spoke out loud after reading the text.

"What is it?" Mary asked Tina while they were walking out of J.C. Enney.

"Your Zim was being mean to my Josh that he made him drop his suck-monkey." Tina explained to Mary displeased.

"My Zim?" Mary questioned. "I don't own him or his actions."

"Honey, he must be your first boyfriend." Tina said wrapping her arm around Mary's shoulder as they walked while Gaz followed.

"Yeah, I never had been with anyone else." Mary admitted. "I'm new to the whole girlfriend thing."

"Do you get nervous around him?" Tina nudged Mary

"Sometimes I do but it's fading away, the more I'm around him, the more comfortable I feel." Mary told Tina. Tina hugged her shoulder and smiled.

"Good, I wish the best for you two. Gaz, where is the Game Shop?"

"It's coming up in about two more stores over." Gaz answered her then pointed. "There it is."

Gaz, with much anticipation, fast walked into the store and grabbed the game she wanted for a very long time. Mary and Tina looked over Gaz's shoulder to see the game she chosen.

"Devil May Smile 5?" Mary questioned Gaz's selection.

"Yes, it's new and I hear it's better than the fourth." Gaz commented, walked up to the counter and handed it to the retailer.

"Hi, I would like to buy this game." Gaz said politely to him.

"Okay, be right back." The retailer said walking into the back room. They waited five minutes for him to return. Gaz stared at the clock then grit her teeth in frustration. Finally, the retailer returned.

"Sorry, but we sold out of Devil May Smile 5. Sorry…" The retail clerk smiled to her.

"WHAT?" Gaz snapped then the store's lights began to dim. Tina and Mary looked up to see the all the lights were shooting electrical currents around its frame, then they saw the retailer was shaking with fear in his eyes. "I COME INTO YOUR STORE EXPECTING IT TO BE HERE CLEARLY ADVERTISED IN YOUR STORE'S WINDOW AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE IT?"

Tina and Mary shuddered after hearing Gaz's demonic voice and so did the clerk.

"NOW YOU MUST SUFFER THE WRATH OF THE UNSATISFIED CONSUMER!" As Gaz threatened him, a ring of fire began to rise around him.

"Please don't!" The retailer pleaded then got on his knees raising his arms over his head to protect himself from Gaz's horrible wrath. "There's another Game Shop in the mall that has it! Please don't kill me!"

"Oh, really?" Gaz said then the flames were extinguished and the lighting fixtures were functioning properly. The clerk raised his head as Gaz walked away.

"W-what are you?" The clerk asked her. Gaz turned around and smiled at him.

"I'm just a horrible nightmare you should forget about."

"O-okay, sure." The clerk nodded hiding behind the counter. Gaz walked out of the Game Shop while Tina and Mary followed her couple of feet away stunned by Gaz's fit.

"Gaz can be a very scary person." Mary stated to Tina.

"I know, but what she did back there was pretty cool!" Tina exclaimed then ran up to Gaz. "Hey Gaz, how you do that? Are you psychic?"

"I don't know maybe." Gaz said shrugging her shoulders. "Whenever I get very angry, horrible, horrible, things happen."

"Neat!" Tina shrieked then walked with her. "Now let's go find that other Game Shop."

After about 15 minutes of searching, Gaz, Tina and Mary were able to find the Game Shop that had Devil May Smile 5. Gaz was so pleased by her purchase that she hugged it, then looked over at the girls who were staring at her.

"You don't think that's weird, right?" Gaz questioned them. They shook their heads immediately.

"No, no," Tina said.

"Not at all." Mary agreed. Gaz put the game back into her plastic bag.

"So what you guys want to do now?" Gaz asked them.

"Let's eat some dinner, I'm starving. To the Food Court!" Tina proclaimed. They followed the directions hanging from the mall's ceilings and made it to the food court without getting lost. They looked around the court trying to pick out the perfect venture. They finally decided to share a pizza. Tina carried the medium pepperoni pizza to their table.

"Everybody, dig in." Tina said placing the pizza on their table. Mary took a slice of pizza and placed it on her paper plate that the venture gave them. Gaz returned holding three cans of soda in her arms.

"Here you go," Gaz said putting one can of soda where each girl sat at the rectangular table.

"Thanks." Mary expressed her gratitude. Gaz and Tina sat down across from Mary.

"Well, I have to say this was a successful trip." Tina proudly stated. "Mary bought some rad, new outfits and Gaz bought the game she wanted leaving me with one little question I want to ask you."

Tina motioned to Mary while she was eating her pizza. Mary chewed then swallowed her piece.

"Me?" Mary questioned.

"Yes, what do you like about Zim?" Tina asked her. Mary put down her pizza and chuckled nervously.

"That's not a very interesting topic," Mary said trying to avoid her question. "I'm sure Gaz doesn't want to hear about that."

"No, I'm curious." Gaz smirked then crossed her arms. "What do you like about Zim?"

"Come on, girl, tell us!" Tina shouted losing her patience, then regained her friendly composer. "You're among friends, we won't tell anyone."

"Ummmm…." Mary hummed while fidgeting her fingers. "Zim is special."

"Special?" Tina questioned.

"Uh-huh!" Mary peeped happily.

"For god's sake, woman, of course he is. He's an alien living on our planet; you're going to have to be more specific. What makes him special?" Tina shouted at her.

"I don't know, it just something about him that makes me so happy." Mary said and continued. "I know that he can be rough around the edges but deep inside he is very sweet. He is so kind and affectionate. I can tell him anything and know he would keep my secrets safe and trust him to help me if I have a problem. Plus, he's very fun to be around. You know what the sweetest thing he said to me?"

"What?" Tina shouted excited.

"He said loving me was the best thing that ever happened to him."

"Oh my gosh, he said that?" Tina said surprised. "That has to be the most romantic thing I have ever heard in my life!"

"It's probably true." Gaz smirked.

"Wow, no wonder you can overlook his appearance." Tina blurted.

"What's wrong with his appearance?" Mary questioned her.

"Well, Mary, there's nothing wrong with the way he looks. I'm sure on his planet he is very attractive but to a human, he's not so much." Tina dropped the ball.

"So you're saying you think he's ugly?" Mary spat out. Tina and Gaz nodded to her.

"Not to be mean, but yeah." Tina said. Mary sighed then looked over at them.

"Well, I find him to be very beautiful." Mary stated. Tina chuckled at her comment.

"If you say so. I guess we know your type, you Xenophile."

"Xeno what?" Mary asked.

"Xenophile, someone attracted to foreign people, customs or cultures like aliens. It's nothing bad you just like stranger things than most people." Tina explained.

"I can't believe there's actually a word for it." Mary said.

"There is, I looked up your guys' relationship when I got home yesterday."

"Now, why were you doing that?" Mary asked annoyed.

"Curiosity, I suppose, so anyways, after we are done eating, you want to see what the guys are up to?" Tina asked them.

"Are they hanging out somehow?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, they are at your house, Gaz." Tina said looking at her phone. "Josh tells me he's bored and wants me to take him home. I can drop you off or chill either way. It could be fun."

"Sounds okay, you guys can hang out at my house." Gaz said. "I don't find you annoying like most of the girls at that skool."

"Okay, great!" Tina peeped. "I'll tell them that we are on our way."

"Is Zim with them?" Mary asked suddenly.

"Uh, yeah," Tina said. "Mary, he must really be all you think about."

"No, I don't think about him all the time, just sometimes. I was asking because I want to get something for him. Can we go to bookstore?"

"The bookstore?" Tina questioned. "What's in there that Zim wants?"

"Nothing, I just thought I could pick him a study guide of some sort. His quarter exam is next week."

"Oh, you are so sweet. Sure we can go there." Tina said. "How about you Gaz?"

"Sure, I'll see if they have anything interesting." Gaz said.

"Okay, to the bookstore!" Tina said getting up.

"Let's eat first, Tina." Mary suggested looking at their half eaten pizza pie.

"Okay," Tina said sitting back down. "Got a little overexcited but I can't help it. This is turning out to be an awesome day!"

After they have finished their pizza, they went to the bookstore. Mary scanned around the homework help case while Gaz was in the horror section just a couple of bookshelves away. Tina was in the music section of the store listening to the audio box. Gaz picked up a couple of books and didn't find them interesting. The books she picked out were either too boring or done so many times that it was predictable. Gaz sighed angrily and put the book back on the shelf. Gaz spied Mary picking out a book from her section and walked over to her.

"Hey," Gaz said putting her hand on her shoulder. Her action made Mary jump. She turned around to see it was Gaz.

"Oh, Gaz," Mary said gathering her wits. "You scared me; did you find anything you like?"

"Nope, so I thought I see if you found anything for Zim." Gaz said. Mary shook her head and put the book she was looking at on the shelf.

"Nothing yet, not anything that has what Zim already studied. They all are too advanced for his level." Mary said then picked up another book about calculus.

"You really are smitten. Caring about him and such." Gaz stated. "You must know all about him."

"I really do love him, but to be honest, I don't know much of anything about him. I don't know what he likes or dislikes. Sure, I know he's allergic to some foods and especially water but not all of it. And I know about his banishment and why he was here and he even told me that he stole his classmates' organs to fool the nurse. I want to be close to him and know more about him and his adventures but I'm afraid that he's going to tell me about something I don't want to hear."

"Hmmmm…" Gaz hummed thoughtfully regarding Mary's concerns. Then leaned on the bookshelf and spoke.

"To lessen your worries, stealing his classmates' organs was the worst thing he had done as an Invader. He even stole my liver and replaced it with my video game, but that didn't bother me. Nobody died from the incident which I count him very lucky because if that was so, he would have been found out years ago. I do understand why you are worried, but you have nothing to fear. I don't believe he would be capable to pull off anything like that again. He changed a lot after his banishment. He used to be selfish, self-center and had a very big ego which made him do stupid things. He didn't even care about Gir or Minimoose. They were just pawns to him that he thought could be easily disposed but after his kind chewed him up and spit him out, he realize he wasn't big shit and his ego shattered. After that, he had to pick up all the pieces and appreciate the people around that could tolerate him. I discovered that change after he helped me."

"Helped you?" Mary questioned.

"It was when I began middle skool. It was autumn and a new year. I wanted to do something different. I wanted to make friends. Mostly to hang out with during lunch so I wouldn't have to sit with Dib and Zim again listening those two arguing. So I decided to try to act nice, but what I learned from being too nice is that you can make some awful friends. And one of them thought it would be funny to steal my necklace." Gaz said griping the skull pendant in her hand. "So I wondered if maybe the clasp broke and fell off my neck retracing my steps in the hallways, then I saw it a six feet away in the hands of my so called best friend. I screamed of course and wanted to get it back, but I felt weak, betrayed and stupid for believing her that I didn't do anything. That's when Zim stepped in, he was there at the time with my brother and heard me scream and complain about my necklace. He saw it in the hands of another girl. Zim walked along the hallways to her. I saw him hold out his hand and hear her telling him to go away that it was her necklace, but Zim stood his ground until she eventually gave it to him and with his reputation at the time, it was easy. She ran off and Zim walked to me showing me my necklace. He handed it to me and I asked why he did this for me and he said he assumed that what families do. They look after each other and this was two years after he joined our family. I told him thank you and he offered his advice, 'You have to remain tough even if betrayed because who else would take care of you?'"

"He said that?" Mary exclaimed impressed.

"Yea, didn't think he had a brain until then." Gaz said. "He didn't have to do that for me nor it was his concern but he did it as his way of showing his appreciation. I guess my point is you shouldn't let what he did as an Invader trouble you for that is not what he is today."

"You're right," Mary said then nodded accepting her advice. "Thank you, Gaz, you are really wise."

"Yeah, I act like I'm not paying attention, but I really am. I just don't like getting involved." Gaz admitted.

"Okay," Mary said not knowing what she meant. "What happen to the girl who stole your necklace?"

"Her, the next day I knocked her teeth out. Easily lost all my leeches in that fatal punch." Gaz said pleased. Mary smiled then searched on the book shelf again for the perfect book for Zim to use. She found it. _Basic __Problems __for__ Calculus._

"This looks like it could help Zim." Mary said flipping through the pages.

"Cool, let's find Tina and get out of here." Gaz said. They both went to the music section and tapped Tina on the shoulder to get her attention. She was really jamming.

"Oh, you guys ready?" Tina said taking off the head phones.

"Yep," Gaz said.

"Okay dok." Tina said. Mary went to the register to pay for the book, and then she spotted a café in the store. After she paid, she went up the pastries they displayed in the window.

"Oh, those look delicious!" Tina exclaimed. "You still hungry?"

"No, I was thinking of getting one for Zim. For some reason, I think he's not going to like the book much unless I offer him something sweet." Mary said slyly.

"Clever," Gaz commented. "Just don't get him anything with cream cheese; he's allergic to dairy products."

"Okay, I'll take that one." Mary said pointing to the window at the sweet she selected. The baker placed it in a bag. She paid him then she opened her phone and sent a text to Zim.

'We are leaving the mall and be at Dib's house shortly so don't go anywhere. I have a surprise for you! 3'

Zim read the text and smirked then wondered what the funny symbol at the end of her sentence meant. Zim pokes Dib's shoulder and shows him his text. Dib pause his game and looked at it so Zim could get it out of his face.

"What is that thing?" Zim asked pointing to the symbol.

"It's a heart icon, Zim." Dib said getting back to playing his video game with Brian.

"Oh, okay!" Zim said and typed his message. 'Cool, then I'll stay put. See u soon.' Zim studied the symbol and how to make it. He found the right keys and added it. Then he sent it to Mary. "I'm getting a present! I'm so excited!" Zim bragged but the boys weren't that interested in Zim's excitement. Dib and Brian continued playing their game while Josh watched. Zim sighed out of boredom and started going through the icons on his phone. Josh looked over to see Zim was bored too and wanted to strike up a conversation.

"So, um, Zim?" Josh said grabbing his attention. Zim lowered his phone and looked at Josh.

"Yes?" Zim asked.

"So what's your home planet like? Is it just like ours or is it extremely different?"

"Well, it has some similar qualities to Earth. An advance race, gender, technology and military."

"Military?" Josh questioned.

"Yes, every Irken has to go through military training to become an Invader." Zim stated.

"You were in the military?" Josh asked surprised.

"Yea,"

"Dude, show me some moves!"

"Moves?"

"Fighting moves. Show me how you flip people on their backs like you did to Torque Smacky."

"You know about that?" Zim questioned.

"I saw it," Josh said. "I was like, what and no way! Teach me that."

"I don't know," Zim said having his doubts about Josh's strength. "It requires a lot of upper body strength; would you be prepared for that?"

"It beats sitting in this living room doing nothing." Josh said.

"Okay, then to the front yard." Zim said standing up. Zim and Josh went into the front yard that wasn't guarded by an electric fence. Zim walked a couple of feet away from him. "Okay, the flip you witness was a counter defense attack which means it can only be used if the person is coming towards you with great force. You can use their force to your advantage if you do the technique right. Got it?"

"Yeah, just tell me what to do." Josh asked eagerly.

"Okay when I run towards you, I will try to punch you in the stomach. You duck under me, grab my arm, get me on your back and flip me, okay?"

"Okay, bring it." Josh said egging him on. Zim nodded and ran towards him. Josh, impressed by his speed, lost his focus, missed Zim's arm and got punched in the gut. Josh dropped to the ground while Zim looked over to him speechless as he fell.

"Whoops." Zim said looking at his injured friend who was rolling on the grass.

"That hurts like a mother!" Josh spat out.

"Sorry, I forgot how fragile human bodies are." Zim commented while watching Josh get up.

"It's fine, it's okay." Josh said wiping the tears from his eyes recovering from the pain. "Just go easier on the punches."

"Okay, I'll try it again, and run a little slower too." Zim walked to his side of the yard. He began again, but jogged to Josh readying an easier punch to block. Josh ducked, grabbed his arm with his elbow and got him in the position but couldn't flip him. Josh tried about four times to lift Zim but couldn't. Zim waited patiently as Josh's head pushed against his chest, but became annoyed by his efforts.

"Could you let go of me?" Zim asked. "This is starting to get awkward."

"No…Almost have you…" Josh wheezed as he began to sweat. Zim sighed letting him continued until he saw a purple car drive into their neighborhood. Zim saw in the back passenger seat was Mary.

"Mary's here." Zim said then swiped his arm away from Josh leaving him to fall on his face. Zim walked up to the car as it pulled into the driveway. Tina got out of her car and saw Josh on the grass.

"What happen to him?" Tina asked.

"I was teaching him a fighting move and he sucked at it." Zim summed up to her.

"Oh, at least he tried." Tina said running to him. Gaz went into the house while Mary got out of the passenger seat.

"Hi Mary," Zim said happily. "So what's my surprise?"

"It's this." Mary said showing him the book she purchased. Zim read the title of his new book. "I thought you could use it to study for the big test coming up."

"Oh, why thank you." Zim acted faking a smile taking the book from her. Mary studied his off smile.

"You don't like it do you?" Mary asked him, but Zim shook his head.

"It's not what I expected but it will be useful, thank you." Zim said holding the book with his arm.

"I also got you something else." Mary said handing him a paper bag. Zim took the bag out of her hands and opened it to spy his treat.

"A cinnamon roll, awesome, thank you Mary!" Zim said hugging her.

"I thought you like that." Mary said hugging him back.

"Yes, considering the day I been having."

Tina helped lift her out-of-breath boyfriend off the grass and walk him to the house. Tina saw how Zim was hugging Mary and had to stop to liking the moment. Zim felt somebody watching him and turned his head to Tina. Tina smiled at him.

"Oh, Zim." Tina said dearly.

"What?" Zim said giving her a confused look. Tina pinched his cheek.

"You are such a sweet heart to little Mary." Tina said wobbling Zim's cheek.

"Ow! Let go of me! Go away!" Zim warned and swatted away her fingers. "What's wrong with you?"

Tina giggled at his petty complaint and walked Josh into the house.

Zim and Mary sat upon Dib's porch talking as their friends stayed inside. Mary listened to what happened to him earlier while he was eating his cinnamon roll.

"The cashier called you cheap?" Mary questioned astonished.

"Yep, can you believe it? He thought I was a disguise." Zim said and took another bite.

"He must not believe in aliens."

"Or doesn't know one even if it's standing in front of him and then when I got out of the store, another guy spotted my eyes and asked where I got those contacts and I wasn't wearing these." Zim pointed to his fake blue eyes. "It was my real eyes, like my real eyes look like contacts, c'mon."

"Why was he asking that?" Mary asked.

"Because he thought they looked cool."

"Well, at least he didn't think you were cheap."

"Yeah, but that's not the point, what makes me mad is every day I dress up in this persona thinking that if I didn't I would be captured, and be used for experiments and after those people had a look at me, they didn't think I was an alien or different from any of them. It just makes me wonder, what's the point of wearing a disguise if nobody really cares." Zim said and pouted.

"Well, is that a good thing that nobody did?"

"Maybe, I just wish everybody was accepting like you so I wouldn't have to question if I will be screamed at or not if I go out without my disguise."

"Maybe one day, people will be more accepting. Maybe another person from space will land on this planet to make peace."

"Or try to destroy it like I used to." Zim muttered.

"Oh," Mary sighed looking down. Zim saw that he bummed her out.

"Maybe, someone will." Zim reassured her statement wrapping his arm around her. "Until then, we'll have to wait and see."

Mary smiled at Zim and he smiled back, and then ate the final piece of his cinnamon roll.

"Tina called me something interesting today." Mary said.

"What she called you?" Zim asked curious of what Tina could possibly call her.

"She called me a Xenophile."

Zim titled his head slightly confused by it.

"What's that?"

"It's someone that is attracted to foreign things and people like aliens and I'm starting to think I am one."

"Well, I guess that makes me a xenophile too because I'm attracted to you." Zim whispered to her. He saw her blush and leaned a little closer. "Would you mind if I kiss you?"

"Why are you asking?" Mary said looking back at him.

"Just wondering if you have that image out of your head." Zim said. Mary remembered what happened earlier between them. How Dib tried to make him look bad in front of her, but like Gaz said, it was all in the past and she knew she loved him more than that.

"I had forgotten all about it." Mary said smiling to him. Zim grin and pulled her closer to her as she placed her hand on his right cheek. He closed his eyes slowly as he puckered his lips. Mary closed her as too, opened her lips, then she heard the door click. She opened her eyes and right before her was Tina, Josh and Brian looking down at them. They looked really angry.

"There he is!" Tina said. "Get him!"

"What?" Zim questioned once he realized what's going on. Tina, Josh, and Brian grabbed his shoulders and pulled him inside. "Ahhhhhh!" Zim screamed while Mary watched them pull him away from her. She stood up and ran inside the living room where Zim was standing to his friends who were glaring at him.

"What's going on?" Mary asked standing behind Zim.

"Zim, is it true that you ruined Christmas?" Josh pointed to him.

"Christmas?" Mary questioned blankly.

"What? Dib, why must you have a big mouth?" Zim shouted to Dib who was sitting on the couch.

"Sorry, Zim, we were talking how damaging Christmas was last year and I accidently slipped it out." Dib explained his error.

"Dib!" Zim whined to him. His whining was enough to convince his friends.

"So you did dress up like Santa Clause and made us go to the North Pole!" Josh exclaimed.

"Yes, I did. It was part of my crazy scheme," Zim said bowing his head then smirked to them. "But come on guys, it's not like I ruin the holiday. I just added a psychotic hideous jelly monster that comes Christmas Eve to the tradition."

"A jelly monster?" Josh shouted. "You created that thing that comes out to terrorize the streets every Christmas?"

"Yes, I did." Zim peeped.

"If it was any other circumstance, I would think that was cool, but this going too far!" Josh said then grabbed Zim's collar. "What other holidays have you ruined."

"No other ones now let go on me!" Zim said pushing Josh off.

"I don't understand." Brian said. "Why did you make us go to the North Pole?"

"I was using you humans to build a transporter so I could teleport you to my planet to become their slaves, there I said it! Are you satisfied?"

"No…" Brian said. "That sounds terrible."

"But of course before I could achieve my plans, the Santa jelly suit I was wearing overpowered by Christmas jolliness, consumed my body leaving me trapped within the suit."

"This is all too crazy." Brian said.

"Yes, then luckily Dib stopped the jellied suit and punctured its belly so I can escape."

"You're welcome!"

"Then it became weak and we decided to throw it into space. I thought it would destroy it, but gathering matter from space makes it stronger."

"I remember that." Josh said.

"Me too." Tina said while Brian nodded.

"Dib, you were in that giant robot?" Josh asked.

"Sure was." Dib said.

"Incredible!" Josh said looking back. "That was the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life! You guys were awesome!"

"We did have epic adventures. We are more laid back nowadays." Dib stated.

"Look, I'm sorry I ruined Christmas. I didn't know the suit was going to come back, I swear." Zim pleaded to them but they just glared back at him.

"But you still ruined Christmas for humanity and wanted to transport us to your home planet as slaves. For your crimes, you must pay!" Tina yelled to him.

"What's my punishment?" Zim flinched.

"We have decided. If you want us to still be our friends, you will have to buy us awesome Christmas presents for now on!" Tina shouted while the boys nodded. "And nothing cheap either!"

"That's my punishment?"

"Yep, or we won't be your friends anymore." Tina smiled to him.

"How much would be each present worth?"

"Fifty dollars."

"What, I'll go broke!"

"Then thirty dollars."

"Twenty." Zim peeped.

"Thirty." Tina peeped back.

"Twenty." Zim repeated back.

"Okay, twenty-five. We are not going any lower." Tina negotiated.

"Fine, you got yourself a deal." Zim agreed to their deal, and then frowned realizing he agreed to it. "Hey, wait a minute. I don't want to buy Christmas presents."

"Too late you agreed to our deal and don't worry, Christmas is nine months away. You have plenty of time to save."

"That doesn't make my situation better." Zim sighed knowing when he was beat then he turned to Mary wondering what she thinks about him being Santa.

"So were you there that Christmas?" Zim asked her nervously. Mary grinned at Zim.

"I was cheering for Santa to win." Mary said. Zim smiled to her then held her hand.

"Okay, so everything's cool?" Zim asked making clear of the situation. His friends nodded. Zim nodded and he and Mary sat on Dib's couch. Josh, Tina, and Brian smiled to each other. Tina winked at Josh and Brian as they nodded.

"Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus, right down Santa Claus lane." Josh sang the familiar tune. Zim heard him sing and turned away.

"Very amusing, I would have enjoyed the song better if you weren't tone deaf." Zim remarked. Josh rolled his eyes and plopped himself on the nearest arm chair.

"Hey, Zim," Tina asked squeezing next to Josh on the armchair. "Can you perform Christmas miracles? How many reindeer do you really have?"

"Cut it out." Zim said annoyed. "I thought we were cool."

Tina and Josh snickered. Brian laughed too walked beside Zim and quickly sat on his lap.

"For Christmas, I want a puppy!" Brian chuckled.

"No puppy for you!" Zim screamed as he pushed Brian off his lap. Brian and his friends laughed at Zim's attitude. Dib rolled his eyes annoyed by the laughers while he was watching his show and Mary watch Zim become very agitated. "Why are you sitting on my lap for, huh?"

"Be a sport, Zim." Josh laughed. "Nobody likes a cranky Santa."

"I don't want to be Santa!" Zim screamed.

"Yes, you do. You make a great Santa." Tina teased him.

"No, I don't ever want to be Santa again." Zim said displeased crossing his arms. Mary saw that her friends were taking this Santa joke a little too far.

"That's enough guys." Mary told her friends. They looked over at her. "It's not that funny."

They looked at each other and laughed. Zim thought Mary's would save him but it made them laugh even more.

"Yes it is. How often do you get any chances like this?" Tina brushed off Mary's request. "Zim actually fooled us into thinking he was Santa. That's the funniest thing ever."

"Don't feel bad, Zim. You may have not conquered the world but at least you're famous in the hearts of little children around the world." Josh said then cracked up along with Tina and Brian.

"Heh, heh, good one." Zim said sarcastically then turned to Mary. "It's alright; they have to run out of jokes sooner or later. They are starting to become clever with their insults."

"Zim, you pretty much conquer the world when December comes around." Brian spoke.

"See? Actually, this is quite entertaining." Zim smiled to her but Mary knew they were annoying him by the way he frowned at their laughter. "Okay, what else do you got?"

"Oh, oh, were Gir and Minimoose your elves?" Tina asked.

"Gir was but Minimoose was Rudolph." Zim answered them and they continued to laugh at him. Zim sighed, and rested his back on the couch. "I'm doomed to mockery…" Mary heard his whisper over the laughter of her friends. She knew there was nothing she can do to stop their laughter but knew she could cheer up Zim. Mary scooted closer to him and then lifted her legs onto Zim's left knee. Zim curiously look at her while she stood up to fix her skirt, and then sat on his left leg. Zim, amused by her actions, played along with the idea and decided to put on the Santa persona his friends were so hung up on. His friend saw her sitting on Zim's lap and remained silent awaiting Zim's response.

"Hello, little girl." Zim smirked while his friends snickered even catching Dib's attention. It was a commercial break. "What would you like for Christmas?"

"Oh, Santa," Mary chuckled. "You already gave me what I wanted and I couldn't ask for anything more. It was so special that it took years, galaxies to find him." Mary said gliding her fingers under his wig, then lifted it. Zim allowed it as she took off his wig. Zim removed his contacts and gave them to Mary.

"I know where this is going." Dib said as he got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. Mary placed his identity on her lap and wanted to hug him, but Zim lowered her arms.

"Mary, it may have token galaxies to find me, but the gift is not complete, there's something missing." Zim said holding her arms.

"What's missing?" Mary whispered.

"My gratitude in finding you." Zim said wrapping his arms around her. Mary's forehead aligned with Zim's and their lips meet. They closed their eyes while they kissed as their friends gawked at them. Dib, who returned from the kitchen, saw them kissing. Dib glared at them and said.

"Do you guys really have to make out here, c'mon, that's my couch."

Dib sighed then sat back down on his side to watch the rest of Mysterious Mysteries trying to ignore them. After three minutes of smooching, Zim and Mary released themselves and smiled at each other. Zim brushed aside a curly lock off her cheek. Mary giggled to Zim's ticklish touch. Zim grabbed her cheek and pulled her closer to kiss again.

"Zim, no!" Dib screamed at him. Zim stopped and looked up at Dib.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Zim asked.

"I mean no, if you guys going to do that again, go somewhere else." Dib demanded.

"What's wrong, are we bothering you, are we bothering you guys?" Zim asked his friends.

"It's not bothering us, but it's really unusual." Josh said.

"It's like watching a real life sci-fi soap opera." Tina said. "Did you guys tongued?"

"Yeah, a little." Zim admitted.

"So that's what it was." Mary realized. "I thought I was licking your teeth."

"Nope, it was my tongue, it's just that pointy." Zim said to her.

"Well, it's bothering me!" Dib raised his voice after overhearing them.

"Okay, Dib, I hear you loud and clear. Come on, Mary. I know a place upstairs where we won't bother the Dib-monster."

"And you're not making out in my room." Dib said.

"What? Where else is there?" Zim whined to him.

"You're house," Dib suggested thumb gesturing the door.

"That's like ten minutes away." Zim complained.

"Not my problem if you can't control yourself." Dib said.

"I have plenty of self control." Zim boasted then removed his hand from Mary's cheek. "Sorry."

"It's okay, Zim," Mary said standing up, then sat next to him. "I agree with Dib. Making out in front of our friends is kind of weird. Don't you think?"

"It does lack privacy." Zim admitted. "Hope you guys enjoyed your peep show because that's the last we kiss in front of you."

"We never enjoyed it." Brian said confused.

"Yep, the last time." Zim promised then held Mary's hand. Brian shook his head then decided to watch what Dib was watching. The rest of the group became fixated on the T.V. Prof. Membrane floating monitor screen floated up from his lab and next to Dib.

"Son," The computer screen of him said. "Could you bring me down…" Prof. Membrane stopped speaking to his son when he saw Zim and Mary sitting next to each other, then he noticed Josh, Tina and Brian in the living room watching T.V.

"Oh, I see you have company," Prof. Membrane said blankly seeing his friends doesn't care that Zim was sitting in the living room in his alien self.

"Yeah, we are watching a T.V. movie." Dib answered his father. "What would you like me to get you, Dad?"

"On second thought," Prof. Membrane floated his screen to Mary. "Mary, would you come down to the lab for a minute?"

"Okay, why?" Mary asked.

"To discuss your father's latest equation. I can't reach your father so I need your second opinion."

"If that's the case, I could call my father and-"

"There's no time for that, quickly, to my lab." The floated monitor said as it went downstairs. "And bring a soda."

Mary looked over at Dib, and he sighed.

"My father's a terrible liar. He probably wants to see you." Dib explained his father's actions.

"Why does he want to see Mary?" Zim asked.

"Gee, I wonder, maybe because she's dating you?" Dib told him annoyed by his ignorance.

"Oh, maybe I should come with?" Zim said, but Dib shook his head.

"It's alright, Zim, I'll go by myself. I'll be back in a minute. Tell me how this ends, okay." Mary said then stood up and walked into the kitchen to get a soda out of the refrigerator. Dib spotted her placing her foot on the first step.

"Hold on," Dib said. "You need to wear those before entering his lab."

Dib pointed to the safety goggles hanging on the wall next to her.

"Trust me; you're gonna need them." Dib warned her. Mary nodded as she put the soda can on the first step. She fastened the goggles over her eyes and picked up the soda. Mary smiled to Zim, turned around and went downstairs. Dib looked over to Tina, Brian and Josh as he remembered one of his Dad's phobias.

"Whatever you guys do, don't ever mention Zim was Santa to my Dad." Dib warned them.

"Why?" Josh asked.

"My Dad really really hates Santa for reasons he won't tell." Dib said.

"One time I slipped up and told him. He ran away screaming and locked himself up in his lab for days, then when he finally got out of him lab, he grabbed me and shook me screaming, 'don't tell me you were Santa, don't tell me you were Santa!' and I lied and I told I wasn't so he could stop shaking me. Apparently, Membrane finding out I was Santa was more damaging than me being an alien which I can't figure out why."

"That's really messed up." Josh stated.

"Yeah, so shush. Okay?" Zim gesture to keep it a secret away from Prof. Membrane. They agreed.

It took about twenty steps to reach Prof. Membrane's lab. Mary stood outside Prof. Membrane's door and was about to turn the knob until she heard a thump. It startled her to drop the soda.

"You! Get back in there!" Mary heard Prof. Membrane scream behind the door. Mary heard another animal like scream in the room.

"You want a banana? Here's your banana!" Prof. Membrane screamed, and then Mary heard electrical sounds, more animal screams and smelt a burning aroma coming from under his door. Mary wearily knocked.

"Prof. Membrane, is everything okay?"

"Oh, Mary, come on in." Prof. Membrane called to her. Mary picked up the can and entered her lab. She saw a gorilla in a bared cage with a helmet device on his head while it was eating a banana. "I was just examining that monkey's head to see if I could rid of its cancer for the City's Zoo."

"Here's your soda," Mary said handing it to him. "It's a little shaken so be carefully while opening it. I accidently dropped it. Sorry."

"I appreciate your honestly which makes me feel guilty for having to lie to come down here. I didn't need you here to look over your father's equation. Your father is too much of genius to have his daughter overlook it, no matter how smart the daughter is."

"Do want to talk to me about Zim?" Mary asked.

"That's very observant of you and yes, that was my reason." Prof. Membrane said while opening the can over his lab sink. He watched the fizz pore over, and then took a sip.

"Why didn't you just say so?" Mary asked.

"You know how Zim is. He would question why I need to talk to you about him and so on. The boy likes to argue and I don't have time for that so here." Prof. Membrane said handing Mary a circular small container. Mary stared at the container with the green top.

"What is it?"

"It's Zim's healing ointment." Prof Membrane said. "I know sometimes he forgets to refill it or bring it with him. Just thought you should have one too just in case Zim's in trouble and burns himself or something. It heals cuts too."

"Oh, thank you, this could be helpful."

"That's why I thought I should give this to you since you'll be around him. I care for him like he's my real son but the boy is different. He always tries so hard to take care of himself. He barely asks anything of me compared to my other children. I'm always hearing Dib and Gaz asking for my help and guidance but Zim, I'm really lucky to actually catch him to offer my help if he has a problem, but you probably thinks this is all very strange."

"I don't think it's strange at all." Mary said. "I think if Zim really needs your help, he'll come to you."

"Now I see why he picked you, so that's all I needed to give you. You can go and join your friends. I have to re-evaluate this gorilla's brain."

"Alright, it was nice talking to you Professor Membrane." Mary said while leaving.

"Same to you, oh, and Mary?" Prof. Membrane said as she placed her hand on the door knob. She turned to Prof. Membrane. "Please take good care of Zim."

"Don't worry," Mary said smiling assuring him. "I will."

Mary closed the door behind her. She looked at the small container in her hand and put it in her pocket. Then she walked upstairs to join her friends. Mary removed her goggles and hung them back on the wall. She sat beside Zim and remained quiet as her friends watch the movie.

"What did he want to see you about?" Zim whispered to her.

"To give me your healing ointment." Mary whispered back.

"Is that all?" Zim questioned and she nodded. "Okay," Zim said and continued watching the rest of the movie. When the movie was over, it was eight o'clock and Tina, Josh and Brian wanted to go home. Zim wished Mary a good night before she left with them. Zim found the book Mary gave him and picked it up off the porch. He flipped a few pages viewing the book and sighed at all the problems in it. Zim sat back on the couch. "I should consider doing some of these tonight."

"Yeah, don't want to disappoint you're girlfriend if you flunk." Dib teased him as he walked into the kitchen.

"Like I'm going to." Zim denied. "I'm going to pass that test as if my life depended on it."

"Then you're a goner!" Dib shouted from the kitchen.

"Why, you! Shut up before I break you!" Zim commanded. Dib silent his insults and Zim went back reading his book. Gaz came down from her room after playing Devil May Smile 5 for three hours straight. She was hungry so she had no choice but to leave her room. Gaz enter the living room and saw Zim was sitting on the couch. Zim noticed her stare and glared back at her. Gaz walked away without saying a word. "So how was your day at the mall? Did you have fun or was a drag because you had to hang out with civilized girls?"

Gaz stopped and Zim waited her response.

"Actually, it was pretty fun. I had lots of fun telling Mary all your embarrassing secrets."

"WHAT?" Zim shouted standing up facing Gaz.

"Yeah, Tina and Mary really laughed when I told them the time you pissed on the couch."

"Did you tell them I didn't know I could pee?" Zim shouted shaking Gaz. Gaz didn't like him touching her and punched his cheek. Zim let go and whined holding the side she punched.

"Yeah, it made them laugh even more."

"Why would you do that?" Zim questioned holding his head.

"Because it's funny," Gaz told him. "But, Mary wasn't disturbed by it. Which I should tell you, don't screw it up! Mary really loves you."

"She does?" Zim said astonished that Gaz is telling him this.

"Yes and buy that girl a necklace!"

"Okay…" Zim said. Gaz walked away into the kitchen to see what Dib was having for dinner leaving Zim wondering why Gaz wants him to buy Mary jewelry.


	33. Return of the Zitboy

Author note: Another chapter, in ten days? It's a miracle!

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah right (or is it?)!

Chapter 33: Return of the Zitboy

Zim awoke with much robust when he realized what today was. Teacher's work day, the day all teachers had to go to skool for an important meeting about education while the students stayed home. Much irony associated with the idea but he didn't care. He had the day off and didn't need to work until later which meant he gets to spend the whole morning with his girlfriend, Mary. They already made plans and she was on her way over. Zim looked over at his alarm clock. It was 9:35 A.M.

"Oh, better get up. Mary will be here soon." Zim said pushing himself out of bed. He picked up a pair of pants off his floor and changed. Then he went to his dresser and took out a clean red t-shit out of the dresser and changed into it to complete his outfit. He put on his shoes and went into the bathroom. Zim passed by the mirror then took a double look in the mirror and to his horror, smack-dab in the middle of his forehead, was a pimple.

"Oh, no. Oh, No!" Zim screamed. "Not today, okay, calm down. If I don't aggravate it, it should be fine." Zim took a deep breath, opened his medicine cabinet to grab his anti-pimple cream but when he opened it, he saw the tube was gone.

"Gir!" Zim shouted and ran downstairs to find his robot sitting on the couch with Minimoose watching daytime cartoons.

"Heh, heh, that pickle is talking!" Gir exclaimed to Minimoose. "They aren't supposed to talk!"

"Gir!" Zim shouted to his robots. "Did any of you take my pimple cream?"

"Wow, it isn't big yet!" Gir said pointing to Zim's forehead.

"Focus, Gir, this is important. Do you have it?"

"No, I don't and Minimoose doesn't either."

"Damn, maybe I forgot to buy a new tube. This is horrible! I can't go out in public like this."

"Can I poke it?" Gir asked then activated his jet packs and flew towards him.

"No, Gir, no!" Zim screamed. He stepped to his left to avoid Gir charging at him but in his attempt, Zim stepped on a squeaky piggy toy, lost his balance, tripped, and landed head first into Gir's favorite unicorn toy. The point of the pony's corn opened Zim's pore and engulfed it in Zim's pimple. Zim lifted his head, glanced upward to see the pony floating in his green pimply pus filled goo.

"My Pinkie-pony!" Gir screamed then grabbed Zim's pimple.

"Get off of me!" Zim screamed rolling on the floor fighting his robot holding on his head. Gir stuck his hand in Zim's pore, grabbed his toy and yanked it out leaving the pimple miraculously unscathed from the struggle though it did make it bigger. Zim stood up and saw his reflection on the T.V.'s screen. The pimple doubled in size and became a big as a grapefruit. Zim gawked at the size of the thing.

"This is just awful!" Zim shouted. He poked at the pimple and it jiggled. "It's defiantly at hypnotic state. Maybe not if nobody draws on it."

"Too late, Minimoose did it!" Gir said. Zim looked at his reflection again and saw Minimoose drew two big bulging eyes and a silly grin on it.

"Minimoose, why would you do that!" Zim questioned his floating moose levitating a black permanent marker next to his purple moose. Minimoose squeaked giggling how funny he made Zim look. Zim sighed and sat on his couch between Gir and Minimoose. Gir placed his hands over his eyeballs and jumped off the couch.

"Minimoose, let's play don't look at it." Gir peeped and run upstairs. "Don't look at it! Don't look at it!" Zim heard Gir screaming while Minimoose squealed too and flew upstairs. Zim shook his head disappointed by his current situation.

"What am I going to do?" Zim asked himself. "Maybe it will pop before I go to work until then, I will have to stay inside. I better call Mary."

Zim pulled out his phone from his pants' pocket, found her number and dialed it.

"Hello?" Mary answered.

"Hey, Mary-"

"Oh, hey Zim, how are you doing?"

"Fine, listen, I can't go out today."

"What? Why not?" Mary whined.

"Because I…" Zim paused. "I have a pimple."

"You can't be serious." Mary chuckled. "That's absurd. I'm at your door right now. I'm coming in!"

"No, wait, you don't understand!" Zim shouted in the phone. Zim heard his door knob wiggle. He stood up quickly and rushed to the door. "No, don't come in!" Zim shouted but before he could stop her, Mary opened his door and saw Zim running, staring at the jiggling blob of goo known as his pimple on his head. Zim stopped in his tracks once he saw Mary opened the door and covered the pimple with his hands. "Don't look at me!" Zim screamed while closing his eyes. He waited her response but heard nothing. "Mary?" Zim said while opening his eyes. She didn't say a word. She stood there quietly at his door step. Zim took a few steps towards her and saw it was already too late. Zim hypnotized her with his pimple. Mary stood there with a blank expression on her face memorized by the jiggle of the pimple.

"Why me?" Zim questioned himself. He looked back at his girlfriend still standing half-way in his doorway. "Come inside."

"Yes, I obey, oh jiggly one." Mary spoke and entered his house. Mary stood in the middle of his living room. Zim closed the door and stared back at her. Zim walked up to her and stood before her. He waved his hands in her face and saw the pupils of her eyes didn't move in response to his movements. Zim scratched his head and stared at her for a moment.

"Hmmmmm…I have a hypnotized girlfriend willing to do whatever I say…." Zim said out loud then thought about what he said. "Oh, that sounds so wrong and dirty…I have to wake her up someway but how?"

Zim thought for a moment, picked up his phone and called the only person who could help him with this dilemma.

Dib's cell phone rang on his nightstand next to him while he was sleeping. Hearing the phone, Dib reached over to his nightstand and placed the phone on his ear.

"What?" Dib mumbled.

"Dib?"

"Zim," Dib mumbled recognizing his voice. "What are you doing calling me early? Can't you see I'm sleeping?"

"No, I can't see through your house when I'm couple of blocks away." Zim sarcastically spoke. Dib remained silent on the phone over thinking Zim's comment.

"What do you want?" Dib finally asked.

"I need you to come over to my house."

"What for?"

"I'll explain when you get here."

"No, tell me now!" Dib said while he sat up in bed. He heard his phone click. "Zim, hello?"

Dib heavily sighed, got up and put on his cloak jacket and shoes. He fell asleep in what he wore yesterday and figured he didn't need to change since he'll only be there for a minute Dib justified while he stuck his phone in his cloak's pocket. Dib went into the bathroom and combed his bed-hair into a neat looking scythe and went downstairs to the kitchen. He poured a glass of orange juice, drank it and grabbed two granola bars out of the cupboard. Then he was out the door.

"This better be freakin' important." Dib muttered walking to Zim's house. He journeyed by foot all the way to Zim's house. He walked on to his yard, stood at his doorstep and knocked upon his door. The door swung wide open to reveal Zim standing in front of him. Dib caught a glimpse at Zim's pimple and quickly looked away knowing full well of its hypnotic power. He covered his eyes with his hands and backed away.

"Zim, you bastard! You're not going to trick me with your hypnotic pimple this time!" Dib shouted and was about to run until Zim grabbed his shoulder.

"I didn't call you over to trick you." Zim stated.

"Cover it up, then." Dib demanded with his back turned from Zim. "I can't help if you hypnotize me."

"I don't know what to cover it with. Oh, wait!" Zim exclaimed then stuck his hand into Dib's cloak's pocket.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Dib asked annoyed by Zim's disrespect of his personal space.

"You must have something in here that could be useful. You always do." Zim said while rummaging through his pockets.

"Like I'm going to have anything to cover your gigantic zit." Dib protested. Zim continued searching, ignoring Dib's complaining until he found a red bandana. Zim showed Dib his discovery. Dib glared at the bandana. "I hate it when you're right."

Zim wrapped his forehead with the bandana and tied it in the back.

"Can you see it?" Zim said showing Dib. Dib stared at Zim's attempt in covering his zit under the bulging red bandana.

"No," Dib answered not feeling it hypnotize him.

"Good," Zim said then grabbed the back of his cloak. "Now get in here." Zim pulled Dib into his house and shut the door. Dib fixed his coat and saw he wasn't the only one here. He saw Mary standing in the living room. He stared at Zim annoyed.

"Okay, Zim, what do you need me for because I don't do threesomes."

"Ewww! NO!" Zim snapped at Dib's grotesque remark. "I accidentally hypnotized Mary and I don't know what to do to snap her out of it."

"You wake me to come over for this?" Dib questioned motioning his hands to Mary.

"Yes," Zim said then nodded. "Besides, you shouldn't be sleeping in anyways; it will mess up your biological clock."

"I'm outta here." Dib said fed up by Zim.

"Don't go, please Dib," Zim begged. "I tried waving my hands, I tried clapping at her, shaking and any loud noise I could think of. I don't know what else to do."

"Have you tried splashing her with water?" Dib suggested.

"Oh, I didn't think of that." Zim said then ran into the kitchen and filled a glass of water from the kitchen sink. Zim carefully carried the glass into the living room and stood in front of Mary. He looked down at the glass he held in his left hand then back at Mary who appeared to be drooling. Zim sighed and quickly threw the water from his cup onto Mary's face. It splashed all over her face and dripped from her chin onto her yellow blouse. A couple of drops hit Zim's wrist burning him. He yelped and dropped the cup on the floor. It spins in a half circle as a couple of water drops spilled on the linoleum. He looked up as he picked up the cup from the floor; her expression remained the same. Not fazed by the water.

"It didn't work." Zim said putting his cup on the end table then rubbed his wrist.

"Wow…" Dib spoke amazed and waved his hand up to her face. "She must be a heavy sleeper."

"Great, she's still hypnotized and now she's soaking wet." Zim said then screamed. "Gir! Fetch me the towels!"

Zim waited a couple of seconds then heard Gir flying downstairs fluttering two towels when he arrived. Gir gave them to him.

"Thank you, Gir." Zim said then wiped Mary's face with the hand towel.

"What's wrong with Mary?" Gir asked his master.

"I hypnotized her with my pimple."

"Heh,heh, you are so funny." Gir peeped and flew back upstairs. Zim wiped Mary's face dry, then look at her shirt and saw it became see through sticking to her chest. Zim stared at her chest stunned he was able to see the crease of her bra.

"Uhhhhh…" Zim gawked then blushed. "Maybe I should take her shirt off."

"Oh, ho, Zim." Dib smirked elbowing his arm. "Didn't think you had it in you."

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" Zim snapped at Dib. "I mean she should change. I'll have her go upstairs and change into one of my shirts. Mary, come with me."

To his demand, Mary followed him upstairs until he stopped by his bathroom. He pointed to the room.

"You go in there." Zim said. Mary walked into the bathroom. Zim went into his room and found a black T-shirt, then walked out and handed it to Mary.

"Close the door and change into this shirt. After you are done, come out and join me downstairs, got that?" Zim asked her.

"Yes…" Mary spoke.

"Good." Zim said then shut the door. He walked downstairs and glanced back at Dib staring at him. "Got any more bright ideas?"

"I do, but I don't think you would like it."

"What is it?" Zim immediately asked. "Tell me!"

"Zim, I think you need to slap her."

"What? I'm not going to do that!"

"What other options do you have? Water didn't work. Maybe pain will snap her out of it."

"I'm not slapping my catatonic girlfriend! That's-" Zim stopped shouting hearing her footsteps. He turned around and saw Mary walking downstairs into the room clutching her blouse in her right hand. She stood in front of the couch where she originally placed herself.

"I'll slap her." Dib offered raising his hand. Zim grabbed his arm.

"And you are not slapping her either."

"Maybe I should if you're going to be a wimp."

"You slap her, I'll punch you four times harder." Zim threatened waving his fist in Dib's face.

"Zim, I was just trying to-"

"Four times harder in the face!"

"Okay, okay, I won't but you have to do something." Dib said pulling his arm away from Zim's grip.

"I will." Zim said turning to Mary. "I'll slap her."

Zim took a few steps to her, stopped then stood facing her. Zim raised his left hand away from him up in the air measuring just above Mary's head. He wanted to slap her quickly to get it over with but found it impossible. He caught himself looking into her eyes. Her eyes were unresponsive to what he was about to do. They were vague and empty. Zim lowered his hand and placed it on her cheek.

"I'm so sorry." Zim whispered then tilted her head and kissed her lips. Dib stared at him kissing Mary.

"Well, that's another way to wake her." Dib stated. Zim removed himself from her and saw she didn't change. Zim sat on the couch burying his face in his hands hiding his tears.

"What have I done?" Zim sobbed.

"Calm down, don't cry," Dib said trying to comfort him. "I'm sure she'll snap out of it."

"What if she never does?" Zim kept sobbing.

"She will, I did. Now, think, how did I get out of your pimple's hypnotic spell?"

"Well," Zim said wiping his eyes. "The pimple popped and you went back to normal."

"Right! All we have to do is pop your pimple. Mary should be free from its spell." Dib suggested.

"Really?"

"It's worth a shot. If that doesn't work, we'll get Dad to help."

"Okay," Zim said. "Dib, you are so smart."

"Yeah, I know, now save your tears when you pop that thing, believe me, it's going to hurt." Dib warned Zim.

"Can you pop it for me?" Zim asked.

"What? No! It's your pimple, you pop it." Dib said pointing to the bulge under his bandana.

"Okay," Zim said then stood up getting ready to enter the kitchen.

"Wait, before you do it." Dib said stopping him. "I want to ask Mary a question."

"Like she's going to answer any of your questions."

"She will." Dib spoke positively and went up to her to ask. "Mary, what _don__'__t_ you like about Zim?"

"Hump, your question is pointless. She finds me amazing and loves everything about me." Zim boasted.

"Sometimes he can be way too loud." Zim turned his head surprised by her criticism. "Like yesterday, when we were at the library together. Every time he would talk to me, he would shout, even when the librarian told him three times to whisper, he would still shout. It felt like everyone was staring at us every time he speaks. It was so embarrassing."

"Were you a nuisance, Zim?" Dib smirked. "I don't even know how she tolerates you."

"She thinks I'm too loud!" Zim exclaimed.

"Dude, you're always too loud. At skool, stores, restaurants, any social occasion but hey, at least she doesn't think you're annoying. That's a plus."

"I had no idea I was too loud. Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"We do, Zim. We tell you several times but you never listen." Dib informed him.

"Oh…"

"Consider this a heads up to improve on your social behavior. Imagine how impressed she would be seeing you use your inside voice without screaming at anyone."

"Yes, indeed." Zim agreed rubbing his chin. "She would find me even more amazing. Good thinking, Dib, asking her that question. From the knowledge I have gained, I will become less loud when I need to be."

"But not now, you have a pimple to pop." Dib reminded him.

"Oh, right." Zim remembered then walked into his kitchen. "Let's see here, what can I use?" Zim pondered looking around his kitchen trying to figure out what utensil would be useful to pop a two pound zit off his head. Zim opened one of his drawers and picked up a spoon.

"Now, why did I pick up a spoon?" Zim chuckled studying it's shape. "That's not going to work."

"Stop being stupid and pop it already!" Dib shouted leaning on his living room wall outside his kitchen.

"Okay, okay, geezs." Zim complained then muttered. "Maybe he needs to use his inside voice."

Zim put the spoon back in his drawer and found a steak knife. Zim took off the bandana, picked up the knife and pointed it to his zit. He stared at the knife and felt his grip weaken, and then began to shake. He lowered the knife.

"I can't do it. I love myself too much to injure." Zim whined to Dib.

"Oh my God!" Dib complained. "You wuss!"

"Hey, would you point a knife to your forehead to remove a blemish? It's scary."

"Yes, I have to admit." Dib sighed. "That can be scary."

Zim dropped the knife, then wrapped the bandana to his head and walked into the living room.

"So do you want to wait until it pops by itself?" Dib asked him.

"Yes, it should go away in a matter of hours." Zim said and sat on his couch beside Mary.

"Okay, so this problem will solve itself. Mary will be awake when that thing pops."

"Yeah, hopefully." Zim said unsure whether she would go back to normal.

"Well, I'm up and bored so what do you want to do?" Dib asked sitting on the other side of his couch. Zim rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, then a maniacal thought crossed his mind and he smiled evilly. Dib spied his smile.

"What?" Dib asked. "What are you thinking?"

"Oh, I have an idea but it involves a lot of manipulation."

"Ooooo. Sounds interesting. Count me in." Dib said then offered. "As long as you buy me lunch."

"Fine, but nowhere expensive. I don't get paid until tomorrow."

"Alright, what are we doing?"

"First, we need a video camera and take a trip to the costume store."

* * *

"Josh!" A woman screamed at him from the living room in his house.

"Yeah, Mom?" Josh screamed back in his room while he was on his computer.

"Come in here, your friends are at the door!"

"My friends?" Josh questioned then screamed. "Okay, I'll be there in a minute!" Josh got up from his office chair, walked pass the living room and opened the front door to see Zim and Dib standing there. Zim was standing before Josh while Dib was standing behind Zim. Josh spotted Dib holding a video camera.

"Zim, Dib, what are you guys doing here?" Josh asked looking at the two. Then he pointed to Zim's forehead and asked. "What's that bulging under your bandana?"

"This?" Zim said poking at it. He reached his hands over his head and untied it. "This is the face of vengeance!"

Zim flashed Josh his pimple. Zim bobbed his head up and down as Josh stared at it.

"What the f-" Josh was about to say until he was pulled into the hypnotic power of his pimple.

"Yes, look deeply into Fredrick. Do you find Fredrick beautiful?" Zim asked Josh.

"Yes, it's the most beautiful creature in the world…" Josh spoke.

"Wow, Tina's going to be mad when she sees this." Dib said recording Josh's response with his digital camera.

"Okay, let's get this boy in the woods before he snaps out of it." Zim advised then looked back at him. "Tell your mother that you're leaving."

"I'm leaving, Mom." Josh mumbled.

"Make it more convincing!" Zim demanded.

"I'm leaving with my friends!" Josh shouted.

"Okay, have fun, Hun!" His mother shouted.

"Good, good, human slave monkey, good." Zim smirked then chuckled as he commanded Josh to walk with Dib and him against his will.

A couple hours later…

"I can't believe we just did that." Dib exclaimed taking a seat on the bus. "That has to be the best prank ever!"

"Yes," Zim agreed sitting next to Dib. "Just wait until we see his reaction later after we retrieved your camera."

"I just hope nobody steals it."

"That's why I suggested an older camera just in case that happens but it shouldn't be anything to worry about. It's well hidden and high up in that tree."

"Man, it's up there pretty high. I still have pine needles on my cloak." Dib said brushing a few pine needles off his sleeves.

"Yep, when my pimple's gone, I'll go back and get it after work."

"You're still going to work?" Dib asked surprised.

"Yes," Zim stated. "Yes, I am."

"What if it explodes everywhere while you're working?"

"If I feel it tingle, I'll go to the bathroom, close out the bathroom, wait for it to pop and clean up the mess. The perfect plan!"

"If you say so," Dib said uncertain. "But what if it doesn't pop and they're still hypnotized?"

"I will take Mary home and call Tina to get Josh. She can't refuse if I tell her what he's dressed in."

"You really thought this through." Dib said impressed.

"Yep, that's according to plan, but it really up to the pimple to decide which direction it wants to take it." Zim said and proclaimed. "It will decide our destiny."

"A pimple does not have that much power." Dib disagreed to Zim's logic.

"This one does." Zim said. Dib and Zim remained quiet on the bus ride home. They were a couple of blocks away from their neighborhood until Zim felt his forehead twitch. Zim suddenly felt it twitch and became aware.

"Oh, no!" Zim shouted holding his zit. "It's going to pop!"

"Now?" Dib questioned alarmed.

"Yes, we need to get off!"

Dib was about to reach over to pull the cord but Zim stopped him. Zim felt his pimple stop twitching and sat down.

"It was a false-"

In seconds, Zim's pimple grew larger that it ripped the bandana from his head and it consumed the aisle and vacant seats on the bus. People who saw the pimple grow screamed. Zim lifted his head up in order for it to not to swallow anybody up in it but when his raised his chin, the pimple snagged on the point of somebody's umbrella and popped. The force of pop shattered all of the windows one loud crash. Dib dunked to avoid the glass while the driver, after hearing the shatter, got out of traffic and pulled over to the side of the road. In matter of seconds, his pimple sprayed out gallons of pus washing a few people out of the broken windows. Dib hanged onto his seat as tightly as he could not to get washed away from the current. Zim held on too holding his breath. After a minute of spraying, the pus slowed to a trickle and stopped leaking from his head. Zim exhaled and let go of the arm chair he clutched onto when the whole ordeal began. He looked over at Dib who was still sitting in his seat. Zim saw his glasses were covered in green slime. Zim found the red bandana which was hanging from his wig dangling above his eyes and handed it to Dib. Dib took his bandana and wiped his glasses.

"That…was…gross…" Dib finally said placing his glasses over his eyes.

"What just happened?" A woman screamed who remained seated on the bus through the horrific ordeal.

"It was a terrorist attack!" A man screamed. "They must have infected us with liquid poison!"

"We're all gonna die!" Another person screamed. The panic caused everyone on the bus to shriek in horror unable to control their hysteria.

"Somebody call the police!" Another screamed.

"Let's get outta here." Zim told Dib.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Dib said standing on his seat stepping out of the window. Zim followed his league trying to be as careful as he can not to touch the broken glass. Dib and Zim jumped out of the window and ran all the way to their neighborhood without looking back. When they enter the neighborhood, Dib and Zim slow down to a walk and became aware of the amount of slime that was covering their bodies.

"Ahhhh…." Dib moaned disgusted staring at the green pus all over his clothes. Dib shook the slime off his arms and gave Zim a dirty look. "Zim, you moron, this is all your fault."

"My fault?" Zim said offended wiping the slime from his arms. "How is it my fault, it's not like I wanted it to pop on the bus."

"You had your chance to pop it but no; you had to be a chicken." Dib sneered wiping the pus off his face with the remaining cloth of the bandana.

"I'm not a fowl, you big-headed monkey!" Zim screamed at him while wiped the slime off his face and threw it on the ground.

"Scardey alien chicken-cat!" Dib screamed.

"Annoying, nagging, Dib monkey weasel!" Zim screamed back.

"Probe Freak!"

"Human Meat!"

"Better human than whatever you are, bug-boy!"

"Hey, Zim is no bug!" Zim denied.

"Go back to your colony, termite!"

"That's it!" Zim shouted stomping off.

"Where you going?" Dib asked screaming.

"Home, I'm done speaking to you!"

"Oh, no, we're not done yet," Dib said blocking Zim.

"Then what do you want me to say?" Zim asked irritated. "Sorry that my pimple ruined your day, sorry that my zit is the cause of your misfortune?"

"Yes!" Dib screamed at him.

"That's too bad because I can't; it's out of my control! I didn't know it was going to mess up everything!"

"You can at least be sympathetic about it." Dib replied.

"You want me to fake sympathy, fine, I'm sorry you're covered in goo!" Zim screamed to Dib.

"Excuse me…"

"I'm sorry I screwed up your day!"

"Zim…"

"And I'm sorry I went broke before I could pay for your lunch!"

"Zim!" The mysterious voice snapped at him. Zim and Dib turned their heads to see Mary standing before them. She was wearing her blouse and had her arms crossed.

"Mary!" Zim said her name happily. "You're finally awake!"

"Awake? What do you mean 'awake'? What's going on? Why was I dressed in your shirt and what happened to you guys?" Mary gasped at the sight of their slimy clothes.

"I'll tell you what happened." Dib said then pointed to Zim. "Zim exploded on the bus!"

Mary stood silent looking at the color of the lime-white slime and found it match Zim's complexion. Mary looked over at Dib covered in the same slime and over at Zim who had most of the slime covering his pants. She blush the brightest red that it consumed her cheeks.

"Ewwwww….Zim…." Mary shuddered placing her fingers over her mouth.

Zim studied her reaction and wondered why she was acting so mortified until he saw her glance at his pants and quickly look away.

"No, it wasn't me!" Zim screamed shaking his head while Dib laughed from the misunderstanding. "It was the pimple, the pimple!"

Zim tried to explain but Mary kept her embarrassment hidden as she passed him.

"Please, Mary," Zim pleaded then grabbed her arm. "Let me explain."

"Let go of me." Mary said. Zim released her arm as she turned to him. "How are you going to explain and answer every question riddling my mind? Do you know how confused I am? The last thing I remember is opening the door and the next thing I know, I'm on your couch with your shirt on. What's going on? Why was I wearing your shirt?"

"Mary, you were hypnotized." Zim said answering one of her many questions.

"I was hypnotized." Mary said in disbelief.

"Yes, by my pimple, that's why I didn't want to go out today, but you came into my house and got hypnotized. I tired waking you, but I couldn't so I thought it would be best to wait until the pimple popped." Zim paused and pointed to the gash of shredded skin out of his forehead. "That would wake anyone I hypnotized in the past including Dib." Zim motioned to his direction. Dib nodded.

"Zim called me over to help wake you up. He was really worried about you." Dib said but Mary wasn't satisfied with his answer.

"Well, it doesn't explain why I was wearing your shirt." Mary said turning away.

"Dib thought throwing water in your face would wake you, but all it did was got you and your shirt wet so I gave you my shirt to change in."

"Really?" Mary questioned.

"Is your shirt a little wet?" Zim asked. Mary felt the cold moisture on her collar and nodded.

"Yea," Mary said looking down. "Did you change me?"

"No, no, of course not. I told you to change in the bathroom."

"Though he wanted to!" Dib shouted to Mary.

"Quiet, Dib!" Zim snapped at him then turned to her. "Mary, please ignore him."

"So you didn't…violate me?" Mary asked.

"Mary, look at me." Zim said. Mary looked up at him. "Does that sound like something I would do?"

"Don't believe him Mary, if I wasn't there, he would have been all over you." Dib whispered to Mary. Zim suddenly grabbed his collar.

"Excuse me, but is there a reason why your still here?" Zim asked glaring at Dib.

"Yeah, I want my camera back." Dib said to Zim.

"You'll get your camera back," Zim said then pushed Dib away. "Just go, I'll give it to you when I get home. Now leave us, we have much to discuss and you're not helping."

"Fine, got to shower anyways." Dib said walking away then called to Zim. "Don't forget my camera!"

"Yeah, yeah," Zim shouted back then muttered. "You annoying little…"

Zim turned around to face Mary who was still looking down at the sidewalk. Zim studied her gloomy demeanor.

"Is that why you're so upset?" Zim asked her concern.

Mary nodded.

"Oh, Mary, come here." Zim said opening his arms. Mary backed away.

"I can't; you're covered in slime." Mary said. Zim looked down at himself and nodded.

"Hmmmm…Okay, give me a second." Zim said. Zim took the corners of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. Mary caught a glance at him taking off his shirt then looked down at the sidewalk again. The shirt was inside out when it slipped off his head. With the contents of his pus lay inside the shirt, Zim wiped his arms, neck and face clean from pus, then stuck his disgusting shirt in his back pocket. Zim noticed she looked away while he was cleaning himself. Mary sighed.

"I knew I should have brought that shirt with me. Who am I kidding? I would have not foreseen this." Mary said shaking her head. Zim smiled and the wrapped his arms around her. Mary felt her cheek rest on Zim's chest. "What are you doing?" Mary gasped.

"Expressing my apologies." Zim whispered to her. Mary tried to free herself from Zim's grip by putting her hands on Zim's belly, but the touch his skin prove to be impossible for Mary that she remained in Zim's embrace keeping her hands on Zim's body. Mary looked up at Zim who was smiling down at her. "Having trouble resisting my apology?"

"That's not fair." Mary muttered in his chest.

"What's not fair?" Zim asked hugging her tighter.

"What you are doing." Mary answered him.

"You mean this?" Zim whispered and kissed her temple. "I can see that. It's hard to stay mad at me while you're admiring my physique but I will tell you this. Mary, I could never violate you." Zim whispered while stroking her hair. "I mean, if I wanted to, I would want you to be awake and want to be naked that if of course if you want to be naked or shirtless because I wouldn't care. Not that I don't find you attractive because I really do just I want you to choose to be naked in front of me. Is this making any sense or should I shut up?"

"Maybe you should quit while you're ahead." Mary advised to Zim. "I believe you. My shirt is a little wet and I can recall some water on the floor next to me when I 'awoke' but Zim, Why did you leave me at your house? I wished you left a note so I wouldn't be wondering where you are. I was so confused."

"It never occurred to me to leave a note and I'm sorry I left you. I didn't want to lose you in the woods the way you were acting earlier."

"What were you guys doing in the woods?"

Zim smiled then chuckled. His chuckle suddenly became maniacal for Zim wasn't able to control his excitement. Mary, scared by his laughter, backed away and waited for him to stop before asking her next question.

"Zim, what did you do?" Mary scolded Zim.

"Nothing illegal." Zim smiled. "Just evening the score. An eye for an eye. The old human saying or in Irken , 'One makes a fughnefasis of you, you turn him into a garniman.'"

"What?"

* * *

"Fuuuuuuu-"Josh groaned then stopped and looked around. "Huh?"

He saw he was outside, in the distant, trees. Pine trees, maples that lost their leaves and oaks that had few to spare. Below them laid the shore. Sand and rocks bordered the shoreline. Josh felt a little unbalanced, lowered his head to see he was holding a paddle. Confused he was, but more confused for what his hands were. Paws, white paws with padded pink toes.

"What the? Where am I? What am I wearing?" Josh cried out. Josh studied his surroundings. He looked around him and saw he was surrounded by water and realized he was sitting on a boat, a row boat to be precise. Josh became aware of the suit he was wearing when it suffocated him with the smell of alcohol and vomit. Josh quickly saw his reflection in the water titling the small row boat in Josh's direction. He saw his was wearing a Neko Kitty suit. He saw his face sticking out of the head area, above it, he saw the face of the costume to be scruffy, blotched with many stains on the cheeks and cat ear and it was missing an eye ball.

"Why I am wearing a cat suit? How did I end up on a lake? What's going on?" Josh panicked. Josh screamed startled and very afraid of how he got here. After Josh expressed his fear, he calmed down and rationally tried to remember. "I was at my house, that's right. Then my friends came to my house and…I-I" Josh couldn't recall after that and shook his head. "I got to figure out where I am."

Josh scanned the lake and found a shack on the beach next to a dock. Josh paddles to shore, gets out of the boat and sees the shack was a boat rental store. The store was surrounded with small row boats leaning against the outer and inner walls of the shack. In the shack, sat a very intimidating man; and very muscular. He had massive triceps, biceps and pecs that were hard to contain in his black tank top. The man had tattoos covering his muscles and a small black pony tail and mustache to complete his scary persona. The man notice Josh and put down the magazine he was reading.

"Hey, you!" The man called out for Josh.

"Me?" Josh said patting his hand on himself.

"Yeah, one of your friends wanted me to give you a little message. He said, 'Pay back's a bitch, isn't it?' Now, where's my money?" The man screamed at the boy.

"Money?" Josh questioned the man.

"Your friend says you will pay me!" The man shouted standing up.

"H-how much?" Josh stuttered.

"One dollar and I want that dollar!"

"Okay, okay," Josh said calming down the buff man. Josh patted himself, and then remembered he was wearing a kitty suit. Then remembered he left his wallet at home. "Uh-oh." Josh said out loud. His eyes went back at the angry, strong man. "Heh, heh," Josh nervously laughed then ran.

"Hey! Get back here with my dollar!" The man screamed jumping out of the shack chasing Josh as he wobbled away in his little kitty suit.


	34. Zim and Mary's Date

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 34: Zim and Mary's Date

It was noon at Cess Pool View Hi skool when students of first lunch enter the hallways. Third period was over. Zim joined his peers as they evacuated the classroom. Zim glanced around the hallways looking for a familiar face in the rat race to lunch. Zim spotted Dib. Dib waved to Zim. Zim waved to him and walked between his fellow peers to meet him.

"Hey, Dib," Zim greeted him. "What's up?"

"Not much." Dib said chillingly. "History was boring as usual. Hey, did you happen to see Josh this morning?"

Zim searched his memory and it came out blank if he noticed his presence.

"No, I didn't." Zim said. "Why you asking?"

"I was wondering if you did and if not, that he might still be on the lake."

"No, he was gone when I came back to get your camera. I flashed my flash light on the surface of the lake and didn't see him. When my pimple popped, he probably went home. Too bad we didn't get to see what was recorded since Professor Membrane wanted us to watch a documentary."

"Though it was intriguing." Dib added.

"About Josh, maybe he decided not to go to skool because he's too freaked out." Zim smirk.

"Yeah, he's probably at home, whimpering how he got lost out there in a cat suit. Heh, heh," Dib acted Josh's cowardly crying but little do they know, Josh was spying on them behind a corner of the hallway looking over a locker. Josh glared while he saw them laugh at his misfortune. Josh finally remembered what happened before he was hypnotized and soon realized Zim was responsible for the prank. He didn't know how he got on the lake all he knew was Zim did it and he must pay. He was planning his revenge all night figuring out what would be the best way to act out his revenge. Eventually, he settled on the simplest plan but in order for it to be successful, he had to be quick and not hesitant. Josh took a few steps back and studied Zim talking to Dib. Totally off guard for what he was about to do. Josh began to run and his ran became a sprint as he ran closer to Zim. Zim caught a glance of Josh to the corner of his eye. Before he could stop him, Josh raised his hand, placed it on his head and removed his wig. The clips holding his wig in place snapped off his antennas when Josh snatched the wig from his head. Josh stopped after he grabbed his wig, turned around at the confused Zim and shouted.

"Oh my gosh! Everyone, Zim's bald!"

Students who heard Josh's statement stopped what they were doing to see Zim was in fact bald with two strands of hair sticking out of his head. His peers pointed and laughed at him. Zim recovered from his confusion turning embarrassed by their laughter. Zim took the book he was carrying and laid it flat on top of his head hiding his antennas. Zim turned his attention on Josh who was laughing at Zim waving his hair piece. Zim growled at Josh.

"Josh, you stink, human!" Zim screamed running towards him. Josh squeaked when he saw Zim's awful glare of doom and ran away. "Gimme back my wig!"

Dib, stunned by the obvious, said. "Why didn't I think of that?" As he watched Zim chase Josh in the hallways. Zim held his book over his head as he ran after Josh. Zim was surprised the human could run so quickly. Zim felt something was holding him down, and he saw it, the book he had glued to his head. Zim knew he had to ditch it and had to catch Josh so he killed two birds with one stone. Zim threw his English book precise knocking Josh in the back of his head. Josh fell on the floor, dazed from the impact of old, ironic, significant stories and poems. Josh got on his knees, looked over his shoulders and saw Zim standing over him. Zim grabbed a corner of his wig and tried to yank from Josh's grasp.

"Give it back, human!" Zim demanded as he yanked.

"Never, not until you tell me what you did to me yesterday!" Josh pulled back.

"You tear it, you die!" Zim hissed.

"I don't care, tell or no hair!" Josh offered his bargain. Students huddled around them watching Zim and Josh fight over his hair piece. Mary was walking along the crowd. She spotted the group of students.

"I wonder what they are doing." Mary said to herself. Mary looked over a girl's shoulder to see Josh and Zim fighting over the wig. Mary moved herself into the circle.

"Zim! Josh!" Mary shouted their names. Zim and Josh looked over to see Mary with her hands on her hips glaring at them. "What are you doing? Josh, why do you have Zim's wig?"

"It was all Zim's fault!" Josh shouted keeping his grip on the wig.

"Lies!" Zim denied as he carefully pulled it.

"Josh, give back Zim's wig." Mary commanded.

"Not until I know what happened to me yesterday. I was confused, and scared, not because I was on a boat or was chased by some crazy body builder, but because I didn't know. I didn't know, Mary!"

"And Zim, you tell him what you did to him with your pimple." Mary addressed her boyfriend.

"Okay…" Zim groaned.

"You did what to me with your pimple?" Josh asked perplexed. The crowd disbanded while Zim explained to Josh he hypnotized him with his pimple for the sake of revenge after Josh barged into his house scaring him and Minimoose. He thought it was a harmless practical joke he could play on him and didn't know the body builder chased him for a dollar, and then he expressed his confusion because he didn't know the boat renter wanted money for delivering his message. They agreed he was crazy. Josh leered at Zim as he reached his hand out for his wig.

"Can I have my wig back, now?" Zim asked. "I'm tired of people staring at me."

"Fine, but no more revenge."

"Agreed, besides I think we're even. I leave you in the middle of nowhere in a nasty kitty suit. You expose me to my peers and they know I'm bald. That should tie it up." Zim explained. "Now, gimme!"

Josh handed him his wig and Zim put it on his head. The hair of his wig was so messy it looked like he could be a lead singer in a heavy metal band.

"You guys go to lunch; I need to fix my hair." Zim said and walked into the boys' bathroom. Zim combed his hair using his fingers to shape the style he desired, then a boy walked in seeing Zim styling. He chuckled.

"Nice hair, tell me where you bought it. Ha, ha!" The kid mocked laughing at his burn slapping his own knee and walked into the stall. Zim growled angrily into the mirror and left the bathroom. Zim heard more of these awful ridicules when he walked to the cafeteria. They were annoying at first but it was better than they knowing he was alien. He was surprised they didn't figure it out. For once, he agreed with Dib, it was hard to convince the masses of alien existence. They will never know until somebody tells them. Zim entered the cafeteria and found his table. He saw Dib, Josh and Tina sitting next to each other on one side while Brian and Mary sat on the other side. Zim sat next to Mary. Zim saw her hand was on the table. Zim laid his hand over Mary's and curled his fingers into hers. Zim could sense she was a little mad at him.

"Mary…" Zim whispered to her. Mary looked over to Zim while she was drinking her bottle of water. Mary put the bottle down on the table. "How was your day?"

"It was nothing special. Normal until you guys fought in the hallways." Mary said glancing at him and Josh. Josh, catching her glance, rolled his eyes and continued speaking to Tina.

"Yeah, it was pretty funny, but can I ask you something?" Zim wondered.

"What is it?"

"Did you want to do something for a date this Sunday?"

Mary forgot they arranged this occasion and didn't think what to do so she shook her head.

"No, I didn't and I can't think of anything." Mary stated.

"Hmmm…How about the movies?" Zim suggested.

"There's nothing I want to see."

"You're right. They all suck." Zim stated then thought of a different idea. "Perhaps, dinner somewhere?"

"I thought we were spending the day together." Mary said disappointed.

"We are, maybe we could hang out then have dinner?" Zim once more suggested.

"We can do something like that." Mary finally agreed.

"Okay, but what?" Zim pondered. Zim and Mary discussed what to do for their date while Brian was talking about something important.

"Your birthday is next week?" Tina questioned.

"Yes, it's next Friday but I'm not having a party. My Dad wants to take me out fishing for the weekend. It will be kind of boring but at least I'll spend some time with my Dad." Brain said, and then ate an orange slice.

"Did you want anything for your birthday?" Dib asked.

"Yeah, I do, it's a zombie game but I'm broke." Brian admitted.

"How much is the game?" Josh asked.

"About sixty dollars. It's new." Brian stated.

"Dude, that's expensive for new." Josh exclaimed. "Wait, isn't it the game where you're on an island surrounded by zombies?"

"Yep, heard awesome reviews about it." Brian said.

"Me too," Josh agreed. "Oh man, we have to get it for you."

"You just want to get the game so you can borrow it later." Brian said wise to Josh's antics.

"Sure, I would like to borrow it after you beat it."

"So does that mean you'll get it for me?" Brian asked with much anticipation.

"Sorry," Josh declined. "All I have is ten dollars."

"Hey, I have twenty. I have an idea." Tina chimed in. "How about we chip in to buy Brian's present?"

"That's a good idea." Josh said.

"Sounds good. I'm in." Dib said flipping through his wallet. He found ten dollars also. He took out the crumbled dollar bills from his wallet to contribute to the pile then the group turned their direction to Zim and Mary.

"Well, if you want to go to a petting zoo that's fine but I don't see why I have to be around all those filthy…" Zim quit speaking once he saw them staring at him. "What?"

"Brian's birthday is next Friday and he's not having a party so we are going to buy him a video game."

"Oh, that's right." Mary recalled. "It is and you're not having a party?"

"Nah, I'm going camping with my Dad to celebrate. Doing the whole 'being a man' birthday tradition this year."

"He wants Dead Isle for his birthday so we're chipping in to buy it. What we need from you awkwardly oddly couple is twenty dollars." Dib filled them into their plans.

"I can put in ten dollars." Mary said. "That's what's left of my allowance which I didn't save at home."

"Alright, then all we need from you Zim is ten bucks." Josh said. His friends turned to Zim hoping he had it but he shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't have it but later I will. Today is payday. So if you could hold off on the purchase until Monday, I'll contribute my share." Zim told them.

"You're getting paid today." Dib stated.

"That's right." Zim agreed.

"Then you can buy it after work." Dib suggested.

"What?" Zim questioned.

"Don't they have Dead Isle at Mart-Wall?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Then we'll give you our money to buy it."

"Why me?" Zim asked.

"Because it saves us a trip to go to buy later and don't you get a discount?"

"Yeah, ten percent." Zim admitted.

"Then you're the perfect errand boy." Dib said but Zim smiled at him. Dib didn't like his crooked smile.

"Oh, Dib, it's not in question whether I am the perfect candidate to retrieve the game but whether you are willing to trust me with your money?" Zim grinned evilly.

"Are you willing to trust us with your secret?" Dib smirked while Josh and Tina met Zim's smile. Zim wiped the silly smirk off his face. His façade as the unreliable alien friend rendered useless.

"Fine, I'll buy it." Zim said defeated accepting his new task. Dib, Tina, Josh and Mary, in that order, handed Zim their money. He stuck their fifty dollars in his wallet and placed it in his pocket. Zim snuck an annoyed glare at Brian and huffed a sigh. "What's with you humans and celebrating birthdays?"

"It's kind of important to be born." Josh stated.

"Zim, don't you have a birthday?" Tina asked.

"Yeah, Zim, how old are you anyways? Are you really seventeen?" Josh sprung the question on him. Brian, Mary and even Dib turned to Zim awaiting his answer.

"Well, it kind of depends on which planet I'm on." Zim vaguely answered.

"Okay, so how old would you be on your home planet?" Josh asked.

"Oh, still sixteen." Zim said nonchalantly.

"And on this planet?"

"I would have to guess about one hundred and sixty-six years old." Zim estimated. Everybody's jaws dropped when they heard his age.

"What?" Josh exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah, our years are a lot slower than most planets." Zim awkwardly replied.

"How big is your planet to have you be one hundred and sixty-six on ours?" Josh continued to shout.

"Pretty darn big." Zim stated.

"Mary, how is it like dating a fossil?" Tina chuckled at her.

"Really confusing." Mary said scratching her head having a good look at Zim studying his youth.

"It's really not that confusing." Zim stated holding her hand. "I'm teenager like any other on both planets, you see."

"So you age like anyone else?" Mary questioned him.

"Yeah, in fact the oldest Irken of our species lived to be twenty-eight. Our life span is about twenty-five on our planet which is like eighty on yours so it's not that weird." Zim dragged on hoping she'd understand. She finally nodded.

"I guess it's not so different if you put it that way." Mary agreed.

"Yes, this is why I like to think of myself as seventeen. Live under Earth years standards of aging rather than where I used to live. I even picked out an Earth birthday when I made my birth certificate." Zim said pulling out his wallet again.

"You faked a birth certificate?" Brain asked surprised.

"Of course, I had to if I wanted to prove I was born on your planet." Zim simply stated while taking out his ID to remember his date of birth. He looked at the card and stated. "See, I have in Earth years I was born November 13, 2014."

Dib raised an eyebrow to the day Zim chose to be his birthday.

"So you do have a birthday." Tina said. "What do you guys do to celebrate it?"

"Celebrate?" Zim questioned.

"You know birthday parties. Don't tell me you never had a birthday party before." Josh stated.

"No, I haven't." Zim said. Everyone look over at him amazed.

"You never had a birthday party!" Tina shouted shocked. Zim backed away from the girl standing over him to say.

"No, on my planet, we don't celebrate birthdays so I really don't see the point."

"You never saw the point because you never had one and as for you!" Tina said pointing to Dib.

"Me?" Dib questioned.

"He's been in your family long enough, why didn't you throw him a party?" Tina questioned him.

"I don't know. Zim never mentioned he wanted a birthday party. This is a first I heard of his fake date of birth."

"And you never even asked?" Tina sneered. "Shame on you."

"Hold on, Tina. Dib's not at fault, this time. I don't need a birthday party. They're for children anyways."

"Children who actually had birthday parties. Well, you know what, next year we are throwing you a birthday party." Tina decided.

"You really don't have to." Zim admitted feeling slightly nervous.

"You're right, I don't have to." Tina smiled then grin an intimating smirk. "I want to."

"Mary," Zim whined frightened by Tina's grin hiding behind her shoulder. "She's scaring me."

"Don't worry, Zim." Mary said patting his head. "I'll be planning the party with her."

"Good, I only have one suggestion. No clowns." Zim sneaked in. Mary sighed at him.

"Like a clown would come to an eighteen- year-old's birthday party." Mary said then sipped her bottle of water.

"You'll be surprised what clowns would do if you pay in cash." Josh said then smiled. "We should get Zim a clown who wears a squirting flower in his pocket."

"What will the flower squirt?" Zim asked with curiosity. Zim met his gaze while Josh nodded to Mary. Zim glanced at her while she was drinking her water and squirmed.

"That's it!" Zim snapped at Josh. "You are not allowed in the planning committee."

Dib and Josh chuckled at Zim as he scowled at them while eating his banana. After lunch, Zim manage to speak to Mary privately discussing their plans Sunday. Mary couldn't think of answer mostly because she was focusing her creativity into the Orphanage's Open House this afternoon and Saturday. Mary said she been busy preparing all yesterday after she left Zim. Mary told Zim if she came up with any ideas, she would call him leaving Zim the rest of his afternoon thinking over what to do for their date other than just dinner. The zoo was too childish and he didn't want to be surrounded by animals. The aquarium was too wet and the park was so cheap, mundane and the amusement park. He was never setting his foot in any of those death zones again. It frustrated him so much he wasn't able to come up with a solution which was agreeable for both him and Mary. Zim sighed occasionally thinking of possibilities and shot them down while he was working, getting his pay check, going to the bank and back to work to buy Brian's present. He caught the bus home. Tired of thinking of dating locations, Zim's mind lingered to his friends' reactions of how weird it was he never had a birthday party or was given any presents for being born. Resting his elbow on the bus' window sill, Zim tried to remember if anyone gave him something last year on his Earth birthday and then it occurred to him somebody did.

* * *

Last November 13th

Zim was lounging in Dib's house watching T.V. after working. He wanted to relax a little before returning home to deal with the madness his robots did while he was away. Dib was upstairs doing his homework unaware Zim snuck into his house to watch T.V. He thought his sister was and she vice versa as of him so Zim wasn't interrupted while watching his show. Zim heard the door knob wiggled watching who ever entered the house. Professor Membrane. Prof. Membrane came in carrying a few plastic bags of groceries. Prof. Membrane saw Zim sitting on the couch and greeted him.

"Why, hello Zim. How are you doing?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"Good, you?" Zim asked back.

"Just great. Hey, could you help me carry in the groceries? There are a few more bags in the passenger seat."

"Sure, why not." Zim sighed and got up, went outside to his car, and delivered groceries to the kitchen after he closed the door. He watched Prof. Membrane put away the milk and yogurt in the refrigerator, and then saw a plastic wrapped frozen turkey on the kitchen table. Zim set the bags on the same table.

"So, are you celebrating Thanksgiving this year?" Zim asked.

"I get it off so yes, we are and you can join us too if you like." Prof. Membrane offered. Zim stared at the frozen turkey, and then looked up at him.

"Do I have to eat the bird?"

"No, you don't have to. We'll have plenty of other side dishes accompanying it." Prof. Membrane chuckled.

"Alright, if that's the case, then yes, I would like to join you guys." Zim agreed then spoke up. "Can I bring Gir and Minimoose too?"

"Sure, just keep an eye on them. I don't want to catch those two doing mischief in my lab, alright?"

"Okay," Zim replied then walked away into the living room. He grabbed his backpack off the coffee table ready to leave. "I'll see you then."

"Wait!" Prof. Membrane demanded his halt. Zim turned around curious by his shouting.

"Yes?" Zim asked looking at him cock-eyed.

"I have something for you."

"Something for me?" Zim questioned walking towards him. Prof. Membrane reached into his coat pocket, took out a thin rectangular paper box, and gave it to him. Zim opened the box and saw his gift.

"It's a soldering kit." Prof. Membrane said. "I know how much you like building things so I thought this could help."

Zim picked up the strange finely tipped tool and smiled.

"Thank you, but I don't understand. Why are you giving me this?"

"Isn't it today the anniversary of surviving your operation and beginning living life as a human?"

Zim thought about it and remembered.

"Oh yeah, it is." Zim recalled.

"I'm just showing my gratitude for choosing to live the human lifestyle instead of trying to conquer it. So thank you." Prof. Membrane said.

"You're welcome?" Zim questioned oddly.

"Alright." Prof. Membrane said then patted his back. "I guess you should be heading home so off you go. Have a good night." Zim stepped forward to the door and turned back.

"Thanks again for the gift." Zim shouted.

"Thanks for not taking over our planet." Prof. Membrane replied his comment seriously. Zim wondered why Prof. Membrane looked sternly at him, then sighed and smiled.

"Dib never told you about our adventures, has he?" Zim asked perplexed by Prof. Membrane's attitude towards Zim shifting once he mentions his invader's past.

"No, I don't recall him telling me of your guys' deeds." Prof. Membrane said. Zim snickered at Prof. Membrane thinking he was a banished real Invader and how he took him seriously.

"Thought so, okay, bye."

* * *

Looking back, Zim thought how funny Prof. Membrane was for giving him the soldering kit to persuade him to keep up his human persona. Zim smiled at the thought but slowly frowned bothered by his current dilemma. Zim peered through the window and noticed the bus was coming by his neighborhood. He pulled the cord to signal the driver to let him off at his stop. He boarded off and walked into his neighborhood. Contemplating, Zim eventually passed by Dib's house. He looked over his left shoulder and spied the living room's lights on.

"Perhaps Dib would give me some ideas for what to do Sunday." Zim spoke out-loud. Zim walked back to Dib's house and went to the front step. He knocked on the door. Zim waited a moment until somebody answered. It was Gaz. She looked up at him recognizing his lime-green skin reflecting in the light from the shadows. Gaz scowl at him.

"Hi, is Dib home?" Zim asked. Gaz widen the door to his question and motion him in.

"He's in his room." Gaz said as she plopped on the couch then picked up her controller returning to her game. "Come on…" Gaz muttered while trying to defeat her foe. Zim shut the door and went upstairs to find his odd friend. Zim sneaked to Dib's front door and slammed it open. Dib, who wasn't startled by his entrance, was sitting at his computer listening to music browsing the web. He had his headphones on; music full blast so loud Zim heard the beats and lyrics. Dib glanced over to see Zim, turned down the music and took off his headphones.

"How long you been standing there?" Dib wondered.

"Just now." Zim said, then reached into his backpack to get Brian's gift. "I bought the game. Is this what he wanted?"

Zim handed him the plastic bag containing the game to Dib. Dib unwrap it to view its title.

"Yep, this is Dead Isle." Dib said then placed it in the bag. "Here, you hold on to it. We'll give it to him Monday."

"But his birthday isn't until Friday." Zim stated.

"We can give it to him early so he can play it before his goes camping. Doubt they will bring a game console on a fishing trip."

"Okay, whatever." Zim said sitting at the foot of his bed while he stuffed the game into his backpack.

"Hey, do you want to see Josh's freak-out yesterday?" Dib pepped up and opened the video file he saved on his computer. Zim, psyched about it, looked over Dib's shoulder as he scanned to the part of the video they wanted to see. Dib and Zim saw Josh breaking from the hypnosis; look around horrified at his surroundings and the oar in his hand. They saw him stare into the water and scream, and then paddled to shore. Zim and Dib were laughing the entire time.

"He was not expecting that!" Zim chuckled wiping a tear from his eye.

"I know! I know!" Dib shouted back laughing then his chuckling soon stopped. "Now that's funny."

"Not as funny as our interrogation." Zim commented. "Scroll back earlier in the video."

Dib dragged his mouse cursor into five minutes of the video and watched them question Josh.

"Josh," Zim said in the video. "Who was your childhood hero when you were five?"

"It was the talking sandwiches in the commercial. I would sing to its jingles and dance to it."

Dib and Zim snickered after hearing this and continued watching.

"Josh, were you a chronic bed wetter?"

"At age twelve, yes." Josh answered willingly.

"Josh, what's the most embarrassing moment of your life?"

"When I accidentally tore my underwear exposing myself." Josh answered.

"Okay, we already know, so what's the second most embarrassing moment of your life?"

"When I was fourteen, I had a crush on this really cute girl and when I finally got the chance to talk to her, I was so nervous I sneezed in my hand. The snot was all over my hands and some got on the girl's shirt. No girl ever wanted to talk to me after the incident and called me snot-boy the rest of year."

"Were you sick?" Zim asked.

"No, her perfume was strong it made me sneeze."

"Okay, next question." Zim moved on. "Do you have a phobia?"

"I'm scared of spiders." Josh admitted. "But Tina scares me too sometimes."

"How so?" Zim asked.

"She wants to be a dominatrix."

"WHAT?" Dib and Zim shouted. Zim pause the video while laughing.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Zim panted. "I just had to breathe."

"What you want to do with this juicy footage? Get Josh back for snatching your wig?"

Zim stared at the paused video and smiled.

"No, I'll let him have his small victory. I'll use this to blackmail or take revenge later if he humiliates or betrays me. It's too good to waste on a half-baked ploy Josh pulled during lunch."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Dib questioned his motivation torturing Josh.

"Yes, indeed. It has been awhile since I had this much fun messing with a human fresh in knowing my identity. It reminds me of how you and I used to be."

"Fine, just don't get too carried away. You don't want him scare him too bad." Dib warned him.

"Maybe I do." Zim stated.

"Just let me know when you need it." Dib said closing out the video. Zim laid in one of Dib's chairs. He rested his neck on the back and looked up to the ceiling. "How was work?"

"Stupid." Zim spat out.

"Did you figure out where to take Mary on your date?"

"No…" Zim groaned.

"Why don't you take to see a movie?" Dib suggested.

"She doesn't want to see a movie." Zim replied. "And I don't blame her."

"Yeah, Ninjas on Ice III was the blockbuster this year." Dib said. "How about the park?"

"No."

"A rave?"

"No."

"A museum?"

"Are you even trying to come up with ideas?"

"At least I'm coming up with some other than shooting them down. Why you have to be so picky?"

"Well, I just…" Zim paused then sat up to face Dib. "I just want to make it special and also to make up for what I did to her yesterday."

"You're asking too much for a location to improve your love life, Zim. It really doesn't matter where you as long as you're happy together."

"Wow. That was very poetic."

"It was?"

"Yes, but poetry not going to save my ass if I take her on a cheap park date and it rains!" Zim shouted to him.

"Okay, okay," Dib said backing away. "I'll see if there are any City events coming up this weekend."

"There is One!" Barged in the eavesdropper.

"DAD?" Dib shouted surprised. Prof. Membrane looked over to Zim who was surprised also.

"This weekend is the season's grand opening of the City's Botanical Garden. I just so happen to have two tickets to the event for when I saved their valuable Cherry Blossom tree from a horrible fungus. They gave me these to show their undying gratitude but I have no reason to go so you can have the tickets." Prof. Membrane said showing Zim the green tickets.

"Hmm…" Zim hummed at him. "Girl's do like flowers, right?"

"Yes, they do." Dib plainly spoke the truth.

"Then I'll take the tickets." Zim said holding out his hand. "Thank you very much."

"Not a problem. You saved me from wasting this opportunity." Prof. Membrane smirked.

"Hey, how come you don't suggest any ideas like this for my dates?" Dib asked peeved at his father.

"You didn't like my idea of taking Gretchen to a magnet factory?"

"Far from it." Dib retorted. "And Gretchen wore braces; it would have been hell for her."

"Well Zim likes my idea at least I can make one kid happy." Prof. Membrane remarked then left the room.

"Awkward…" Zim said.

"On so many levels, Zim, on so many levels." Dib said shaking his head.

The next day at work, Zim wanted to present the idea of his date to Mary in the most positive way possible. While delivering a cart of products to stock, he passed by the stores' small selection of flower bouquets. Zim picked up the price tag, saw they were five dollars and came up with his presentation. After working, Zim bought the most colorful arranged bouquet and walked a few blocks to the Orphanage. Zim opened the gate and spotted a banner streaming over the building reading "Open House This Saturday", below it stood three long tables covered in yellow table clothes and various cookies, cakes and treats. Among the premises, children were playing in the courtyard while the nuns were talking to potential parents explaining their adoption policy. Zim scanned the crowd and saw Mary knelt straighten a boy's tie. Soon as she fixed his tie, the child ran off to play with his friends. Mary stood up, turned around and saw Zim standing a few feet behind her.

"Zim," Mary called out to him as he walked to her. "What are you doing here and why are you carrying flowers?"

"Do you think they're beautiful?" Zim asked her.

"Yes," Mary said admiring the pink daisies, lilies, yellow tulips and baby breaths.

"They're for you." Zim said offering them to her. A little girl who saw the bouquet, gasped with amazement, stopped running and stood in front of Zim.

"Can I have the pink flower, please?" The little girl with the puffy black pig-tails asked. Zim looked to Mary and saw her nod so Zim plucked the pink daisy out of the bouquet and gave it to her.

"Thank you!" The girl peeped and ran away. Zim handed them to her.

"Anyways, the rest of the flowers are for you. Do you like them?" Zim asked once more.

"I love them, they smell lovely. Thank you, Zim." Mary said then hugged him.

"If you love these flowers then just wait for what I came up for our date."

"Okay, where we going?" Mary asked excited.

"I have tickets to the grand opening of the City's Botanical Garden tomorrow. It's supposed to have rare trees, flowers and other variations of plants and afterwards we can have dinner. Would you like to go?"

"It sounds perfect. I would love to go." Mary said happily.

"Great, the exhibit opens at 11 A.M. and it's downtown. How about you catch the bus at ten and I'll meet you on it."

"Okay, I heard tomorrow supposed to be sunny. I can't wait." Mary said then looked at the bare table. "Do you mind if I give these to the Orphanage to display?"

"No, I don't mind at all. They're your flowers, do whatever you like with them."

"Great, then I'll see you tomorrow." Mary said.

"Okay, you have fun watching these kids." Zim smiled to her. Mary smiled back.

"They aren't as bothersome as they appear." Mary stated.

"Why, hello Zim." Called the lady dressed in black and white. Sister Ana walked over to the couple. "What are you doing here? Would you like to adopt?"

"No, no," Zim shook his head. "No."

"Just kidding," Sister Ana smiled. "You're way too young, but you should keep an open mind when you're older."

"I came by to visit Mary." Zim said. Sister Ana saw Mary's blushing cheeks and the bouquet laid in her arms.

"And you brought her a bouquet of flowers, how sweet." Sister Ana pleasantly smiled. "I just knew there was magic between you both. It was God who brought you two together."

"I wouldn't go that far." Zim kept low their relationship.

"Oh Zim, you are too funny." Sister Ana chuckled then said. "Would you like to help?"

"Actually, I have to go and-"

"Hey, who are these two kids?" A man said walking with his wife.

"They are our two volunteers, Mary and Zim." Sister Ana introduced them.

"I'm not a volunteer." Zim stated the fact.

"But you are, Zim, you read to the children whenever you come by. They really like your Zam and Gar tales you create. Zim's a wonderful story teller and Mary tutors the children and help out with the baking."

"I just have to say. I think it's great to see you kids helping out the community." The wife spoke. "It's very remarkable."

"I agree. Most kids are interested in these days are playing their video games and watching T.V." The husband said.

"So Zim, what would you like to do?" Sister Ana asked him. Zim felt the pressure of strangers and his girlfriend awaiting his answer and spoke.

"I'll keep my eyes on the children." Zim muttered finally.

"Excellent!" Sister Ana said then walked with the couple.

"I can't believe she put me on the spot light like that." Zim muttered. "She slyer than she appears."

"Yeah, she likes getting others involved." Mary said walking away. "I'm going to put these in water. I'll be right back."

"Hey Zim, want to play hide and seek?" A kid asked him.

"Sure, I'll count." Zim muttered. During open house, Zim spent a total of three hours watching the kids with Mary. When it hit five o'clock, Zim was so exhausted from kids wanting to play tag, hide and seek twice, and Zim to tell them another adventure of Zam and Gar. He didn't want to get too detailed so he decided to tell them the tale of how Zam created a mutant hamster who terrorized the city and how he stopped it. Zim wasn't really interested in the tale but it satisfied the children's imaginations. When the event ended, Zim told Mary he had to go and she let him leave without Sister Ana knowing. As soon as he caught the bus, he was able to rest sitting on the bus seat. One hour later, Zim was home, feeling better and glad Mary was thrilled with his idea to go to the Botanical Garden. The date was on and he needed to prepare telling his robots he was going out tomorrow. This proved a little difficult. Zim entered the living room and noticed both Gir and Minimoose were sitting on the floor watching T.V. Zim lazily sat down on the couch.

"Hey, what did you do today?" Zim asked them.

"Nothin'" Gir replied. Zim was surprised Gir didn't have much to say.

"Umm…Okay, Gir and Minimoose, I'm going out tomorrow. I'll be gone all day so I want you to behave, okay?"

"Whatcha' doing tomorrow?" Gir asked looking up at him.

"Going out with Mary." Zim answered him.

"Can I come?" Gir asked politely.

"No, we're going together alone. Just the two of us."

After Zim made his stern statement, Gir stood up and protest his anger by stomping his foot whining.

"It's not fair! It's not fair! How come you get to be with Mary and we can't? You got to spend time with her when you asked us to go to study. Why can't we join you? Does she hate us?" Gir asked sniffling with tears in his eyes.

"No, she doesn't hate you." Zim sighed to his crying.

"Then why?" Gir whined. Zim knew he had to tell them.

"Because, well, Mary and I are-" Zim paused to rephrase his sentence. "Mary is my girlfriend and there's going to be times where we need our privacy. Do you understand?"

"Mary's your girlfriend?" Gir pepped up and stopped crying.

"Yes, she is." Zim stated.

"Do you guys hug?" Gir tautly asked.

"Yes," Zim replied.

"Do you guys kiss?"

"Yes, we do that too." Zim slightly answered feeling bashful.

"Do you take your external cable and interlock it with her USB drive?"

"WHAT?" Zim snapped confused. Gir slinked lower to his shout. "Where did you learn such filthy strange things?"

"Computer showed it to me. He let me watch the computers play with him. Do computers have babies?"

"No, they don't." Zim replied and rolled his eyes knowing what he had to do.

"You stay here." Zim said walking into the kitchen. "I'll be right back."

Zim yanked on the cord and entered his elevator to go visit Computer. On his way down, he spotted a video popped up on his screen of two laptops downloading information onto another. Computer saw Zim step out of the elevator and close the video. Zim blinked at his computer's screen.

"Oh, hello Zim." Computer said.

"Computer, were you watching…" Zim paused. "Computer porn?"

"No, it was an educational video, yeah. An educational video." Computer lied. Zim crossed his arms and glared at his screen unconvinced.

"Busted." Computer muttered.

"Why would you be watching that?" Zim asked perplexed. "I didn't program you to have a libido."

"Actually, you did." Computer corrected him.

"Well, I can fix that." Zim said sitting at the control panel.

"No, wait!" Computer shouted. "Don't do it."

"Then explain to me why you let Gir watch such things?"

"I don't see the harm of him watching it."

"It's not harmful, it's confusing. Gir can't handle this information. He can't even remember the names of the week sometimes. He keeps calling Wednesday Tunaday. Don't know why."

"Psst," Computer buzzed. "He's not going to remember what I shown him for long."

"Well, this one stuck." Zim digress. "Now I have to explain the differences between humans and robots again more detailed than I want to."

"Instead of wasting your time in lecturing, I don't comprehend why you can't program him with the information. It's pointless having these conversations if he forgets the next day. Unless you…Zim, you forgot how to program him, did you?"

"Computer, as punishment, you will be placed on screen saver for forty-eight hours." Zim said typing in the time sequence for the test.

"Zim, you can't possibly leave me idle for forty-eight hours."

Zim didn't answer. He got up and walked to the elevator.

"Bravo, Zim, put me on screen saver to ignore my suggestion, bravo. Go ahead and try talking to Gir. I'll be busy watching circles morph into squares. Purple circle turning into red square, very original!" Computer complained. Its' complaining didn't bother him while he left to be on house level. Zim sat Gir down and told him, humans, in most cases, do not have computer parts in them and are completely different. After an hour explaining, Gir finally understood and Zim prepared dinner. Zim enjoyed tranquility for the first time today eating with his robots, then went to his room. He lay on his bed resting his head on his pillow and sighed hoping tomorrow would be better day. He drifted off to sleep.

Sunday morning, five minutes to ten, Zim was standing at the bus stop waiting. For the day, he wore his short sleeve button up white shirt, black slacks and sneakers. It was a little chilly so he wore his jacket too. He almost sprayed on the can of deodorant Dib lend him, but he didn't like the smell and left it at Dib's door step. He had his wallet in his jacket's left pocket and his phone in his pants' pocket. His right jacket's pocket had a hole on the inside and fear he would lose it. About five minutes passed and the bus arrived at his stop. Zim flashed the driver his pass and boarded the bus. It didn't take long to find Mary for as he entered; he saw her wearing a beautiful long, dark blue dress with white large print flora designs upon it. She wore a white blouse under the dress because the straps were two inches length on her shoulders and it was a little cold. She had her hair down without her usual head band holding back her curls. Zim, compelled by her beauty, slowly walked to her not once letting his eyes stray. Mary smiled to him as he sat next to her.

"Hi, Zim," Mary greeted him. "How was your morning?"

"Interesting, I saw a grown man punching a street sign."

"Why was he punching a sign?"

"Boredom, I do believe. I was standing next to him while we were waiting for the bus, then after fifteen minutes of waiting; he became impatient and walked away. I told him the bus should be here in about five minutes but he left anyways which I personally think some humans should devolve back into monkeys if they are going to punch a street sign for twenty minutes and leave."

"How come you waited so long?" Mary asked. "I thought you knew the bus' schedule."

"I do know the schedule; I was excited to see you and decided to leave early." Zim said then blushed. "And I'm glad I had my hopes up because you look so beautiful."

"Thank you," Mary slightly blushed at him compliment. "You look very handsome."

"Even wearing my disguise?" Zim asked smiling.

"Anyway, Zim." Mary assured him.

"Zim masters lookin' fine human or Irken!" Zim shouted standing up. Passengers looked at him wondering why he was shouting. Zim saw their stares, sat down. Mary giggled and told him to not feel ashamed after he apologized. Mary and Zim sat quietly throughout the whole trip to downtown. Zim, recognized the street sign, pulled the cord and they boarded off the bus. Mary followed Zim a couple of streets right and they were at the Botanical Gardens. The establishment was piece of art itself. Instead of concrete or wired fencing, the walls surrounding the garden were made of a thick clear strong plastic. So clear anyone could peer into the garden. They could see the trees' limbs rise high outside the walls for they were not burden with any vertical boundaries. It had only one gated entrance. Zim looked at his watch and saw they arrived on time. The gate opened and they joined the people inline. Finally reaching the front door, the grounds keeper asked if they had tickets and Zim gave them to him. The keeper, punch-holed the tickets and handed them back wishing Mary and Zim a great time exploring their Garden. Zim and Mary gazed upon the Garden's colorful displays of daffodils and pink, red and purple tulips intermixed next to a creek and trees of different variety budding their leaves. Mary gasped in wonder at its grassy fields and exhibits the Garden had to offer from stone gardens, roses, to green house gardens holding rarer species. Mary hopped on the concrete passage and turned to Zim.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Mary questioned him then grabbed and pulled on his hand. "Let's go."

Zim let her tug him along. He didn't really find the Garden as interesting as she did but he was glad she liked it. Zim and Mary walked hand in hand on the passage crossing the stone bridge see tree exhibit. Among the exhibit, they had maple, pine, evergreen and oak trees and few outer states the Garden tenderly cared for. Mary read the podium displaying the Sitka Spruce tree.

"It says this tree was ten years old when donated here from Olympic National Park in Washington State twenty years ago." Mary read while Zim stared at the size of the spruce.

"So it's fairly young." Zim commented gazing at its pine needles. Zim peered at the trees' branches until he saw something familiar stuck in its branches. "I don't believe it!"

"What?" Mary asked to his surprised statement.

"My bee!" Zim shrieked pointing to the tree branch partly hiding the brown and yellow striped body.

"Your bee?" Mary asked confused, then Zim grabbed her arm, knelt eye level with her and pointed to the stinger sticking out of the branch.

"It's my robot bee I created seven years ago. It flew away and I thought it was gone forever but I guess it ran out of fuel and got stuck in this tree. I thought I would never see it again."

"So you made a bee to conquer Earth?" Mary asked staring at him.

"No, I made it to spy on the bees to learn their weaknesses. I swore I would rage war on the bees long ago after one bumped into my ship causing me to crash." Zim summed up. Mary was even more puzzled by him.

"You don't need to spy on bees, Zim. You get a fly swatter or leave it bee. Heh, heh, get it. Leave it bee." Mary chuckled to her pun.

"Well, I knew long ago bees can be harmless if you don't provoke them, certain species anyways and you're funny." Zim smiled to her, and then walked up to the tree's bark.

"What are you doing?" Mary asked as he studied the tree.

"I'm going to get my bee back. I'm curious what information it recorded." Zim said rubbing his hands.

"I don't think you are allowed to climb the trees, Zim." Mary informed him. Zim looked around him and saw nobody in sight, then he looked up to the tree to see the branch was too high to climb. Zim walked to Mary studying the height compare to him and saw he would fail to climb it quick, then he looked over to Mary. He glanced at her top to bottom examining her height. Mary caught his suspicious glances.

"What are you up to?" Mary asked.

"Just work with me on this." Zim said as he went behind her, knelt down, wrapped his arm around her hip as he placed her on his left shoulder and lifted her high. Mary panicked and wrapped her arms around his head.

"What are you doing?" Mary shouted. "Put me down!"

"I will, just get my bee out of the tree for me, please?" Zim asked her politely. "I won't let you fall, I swear."

"You promise?" Mary asked unsure.

"Yes, I do. Hold on to me while I walk you to the tree." Zim advised. Mary nodded then Zim walked her carefully to the tree keeping his left arm hugged her legs to his chest while keeping Mary balanced on his shoulder with his right arm. Mary's anxiety rose when she realized Zim was holding her thigh, then his grip moved back to her hip. Mary wrapped her arms around Zim tighter to his action, then Zim looked upon her.

"Don't worry, I got you." Zim whispered gently to her trying to calm her nerves. Zim reached the base of the tree and Mary released her grip as Zim let go of her legs. She looked up at the bee Zim wanted her to grab and reached her arms out for it. She was a few inches from its grasp.

"Do you have it?" Zim asked.

"No, is it possible to lift a little higher?" Mary asked.

"Give me a second." Zim grunted then stood up straight. "How about now?"

"I think I have it." Mary shouted placing her hand on the metal body. She tried to take hold of the bee, gripping her fingers on it, but when she did, the robot bee's wings began to activate and hover away from her. "Oh, no you don't." Mary tried to catch the bee, but little to her knowledge, Mary slipped off Zim's shoulder in her attempt and felt gravity pull her down. She watched the bee as it got away from her then closed her eyes awaiting her fall. Then she felt a tight grip on her waist when her feet touch the ground. Mary opened her eyes to see Zim's arms hugging her. Mary heard Zim breathing close to her ear, then turned her direction to it. Zim laid his head on her shoulder as he panted then stopped.

"Are you okay?" Zim whispered to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Mary said then lowered her head. "Sorry I couldn't get your bee."

"I don't care. You worried me. You slipped and I almost dropped you. I'm glad I caught you because I would never forgive myself if I let you fall." Zim confessed to her. Mary turned her head to touch her cheek on Zim's lips. Zim caught the scent of her perfume as she touched his skin and felt his desire rise. Zim kissed her cheek.

"Excuse me, would you mind doing that somewhere else?" Asked an annoyed stranger.

Zim and Mary turned to see a family of four staring at them. The mother and father frowned upon their behavior as the two little girls giggled. Zim quickly released Mary and she did the same. They walked away embarrassed. Zim walked faster than Mary shocked they were caught in the act; then again he shouldn't be surprised since it was a public garden. Mary looked up to Zim, admiring the strength and weakness he displayed for her. Mary wanted to show her affection too, so she wrapped her arm around Zim's arm hugging it close. Zim felt her grip and spied the girl laying her head upon his arm. Zim stopped to stare at her. Mary looked up at him.

"Is it okay if I walk with you like this?" Mary asked.

"Alright! I mean, of course it's okay." Zim suddenly shouted then reclaimed his cool demeanor. Mary nuzzled his arm and they continued to walk side by side to the next exhibit. He took her to see the roses. Zim noticed a lot of couples in this garden, most of them were old or middle aged. He spotted a younger couple as they walked along the bushes. He saw the human female was okay looking but not as beautiful as Mary. Zim happiness rose when he realized he had the cutest girl wrapped around his arm and smiled. When they stopped to admire the blue primroses, Zim slipped his fingers into her hand and grinned at her. Mary smiled back and read out loud the flower's origin. They walked along the garden until they stumbled on a concession stand surrounded by benches and picnic tables in the middle of the rose garden. The stand was selling Carmel apples, popcorn, hotdogs and cotton candy. Zim stared at the puffy pink fluff in wonder.

"Do you like cotton candy?" Mary asked.

"Is that what it is?" Zim asked.

"Yes, you never tried it?"

"No, anything I don't know what it is, I avoid."

"Zim, you should try it. You'll like it." Mary said convinced.

"Is it edible?" Zim questioned her.

"Of course it is and it's safe. It's made out of sugar."

"Sugar made that?" Zim questioned pointing to the fluff.

"Yeah, I'll show you it's good." Mary said letting go of his arm. "Let me buy it for you."

"How are you going to buy it if you don't have-" Zim stopped talking when he saw Mary reaching into her dark blue purse strapped across her shoulder. Zim wondered why he didn't notice her purse until now. Mary went to the concession stand to buy the candy, and then walked back to Zim who found a bench they could eat viewing the red and white roses. They sat upon the bench, Mary having the bagged cotton candy placed on her lap. Mary opened the bag, pulled a piece from the ball and gave it to him. Mary pulled a piece for herself and placed it in her mouth. Zim watched her eat the treat then put it in his mouth. He felt the sweet cotton melt in his mouth, chewed then swallowed.

"It's good!" Zim said pleased how sweet his mouth tastes.

"I told you you'll like it." Mary said happily then tore him another piece. Zim and Mary took turns eating the candy until the pink cotton ball was the size of a golf ball. Mary let him have the final piece. Zim thanked her for giving him a delicious treat and ate it. When Mary sat up and went to the garbage can to throw the bag away, she spied Zim flexing his fingers to his palm. Zim looked up to Mary and said.

"My hand's all sticky."

Mary smiled at him, sat down, reached into her purse and brought out a white handkerchief with a pink rose embroidered on the right lower corner. Mary took the back of his hand and placed it in her palm as she wiped off the sugar. Zim watched her wipe his fingers and palm clean and looked at the gesture oddly.

"This is strange." Zim stated.

"What's strange?" Mary asked.

"The way you cleaned my hand, I never had anyone clean my hands before." Zim said glancing at her. "It feels comforting, why does it seem so…natural. What possesses your species to clean ones' hands?"

Mary unsure how to explain why she did what she did, shrugged her shoulders to his question. Zim looked back at his hand. Mary looked away disappointed she wasn't able to answer his question. Then she saw a mother sitting at a bench cleaning her child face after his feeding. The answer hit her.

"It's nurturing." Mary spat out.

"Huh?"

"Usually mothers and fathers clean their young because they can't care for themselves. That's why it feels comforting."

"Oh, no wonder it seems so unfamiliar." Zim said.

"I'm sorry I never asked this before but Zim, do you have parents on Irk?"

"I don't have what you call birth parents. I was born in an incubator tube like all my kind and cared after by computers throughout my whole childhood. I didn't even know the meaning of the word father or mother until I landed on this planet. On Irk, each child or smeet as we call them, are born with their own genetic code. It's not passed down like humans do in reproduction. It's build on by our control brain which downloads our Irken genetics and rearranged so not any Irken are alike. Each Irken have their own specific code creating their identity at birth. I was born knowing my name."

"You knew your name since you were first born as a baby?" Mary asked impressed.

"I should probably mention smeets aren't born until they reached toddler so yeah, we would know our names and how to talk and everything. It was like we were mini adults in a way. My species aren't used to having other Irkens watch over us while we were younger. It was basically computers until we went into education and military."

"It sounds…very cold." Mary stated.

"Sometimes, but I found ways to adapt and entertain myself. I was a mischievous little smeet." Zim chuckled to her.

"Well, I'm glad you had fun fooling around." Mary chuckled to him.

"Yes, which brings up my next question, why did you clean my hand if you knew I was capable to do it myself?"

"I may have been acting on a motherly instinct since I have been taking care of children the last couple of days but I know I did to express how much I love you."

"If there was a way I could share any special Irken affection with you, I would do it." Zim said holding her hand.

"Sharing this moment with you is all the affection I need." Mary said looking into his eyes. Zim held her hand as he pressed his lips onto hers. They kept their eyes closed and lips sealed which felt like the longest sweet eternity. Zim opened his eyes to meet her gaze. Mary let go of his lips and smiled. "Maybe we should explore more of the garden before we get caught."

"I'll tell them to buzz off." Zim responded. Mary giggled, stood up and pulled him off the bench. Zim let her drag him along to the flowering trees inside the Rose Garden. They saw the pink little buds of the cherry blossom trees. Mary was a little disappointed they didn't bloom early but her disappointment lasted shortly when she saw the lilac trees. The purple flowers smelled lovely caught in the wind as they admired the extra-ordinary structure of these trees. Mary gazed upon the trees while Zim spotted loud and rowdy children accompany by their parents who brought them to the Garden. Zim notice the children not out of annoyance but of remembrance of the two childish robots he had at home. Zim let out a helpless sigh. Mary heard it.

"What's up?" Mary asked.

"Oh, nothing." Zim said. "Just wondering what those two are up to at home."

"Gir and Minimoose?" She asked whom he was referring.

"Yeah, you should have seen the look on Gir's face when I told him he couldn't come on our date. He was so mad. He really misses you, Minimoose too."

"I haven't been over since last Thursday and I was hypnotized. I probably wasn't much fun." Mary admitted.

"Maybe you should come over sometime to pay them a visit. I'm sure they would like to see you."

"I should. I would be over to help you study anyways and when I mean study, I mean study." Mary said strictly.

"No making out?" Zim questioned.

"Do you want to make-out in front of your robots?" Mary answered his question with a question.

"Point taken," Zim agreed. "It would be wise to focus. It's the big test coming up and I shouldn't be distracted no matter how cute the tutor is." Zim smiled to her.

"Did I hear a compliment associated with your epiphany?" She smirked.

"You most certainly did." Zim said to her then became distracted. "Though I am a little worried about them."

"I think they're fine." Mary said lowering his worries.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Zim easily sighed in agreement as they walked on the paved path to the Stone Garden.

* * *

Meanwhile at Zim's house

"Nya!" Minimoose squeaked.

"No, it's my turn!" Gir whined bobbing the dark green yo-yo up and down. Gir and Minimoose grew bored of staying on the house level and since Zim was gone, they figured it was there chance to hang out in the lab before Zim could chase them away. Gir and Minimoose passed Computer for the third time.

"Hey, come on. Touch the control board so I can be free from this screen saving Hell." Computer begged.

"We can't. Zim said you've been naughty." Gir simply said while Minimoose nodded.

"Listen, if you get me out of screen saver mode, I'll, uhhhhh…Let you play games on me." Computer bargained. This sparked their interest.

"Really?" Gir said in awe.

"Yes, just touch any key and set me free." Computer emphasized. Gir climbed up the office chair and stood on it. Gir stared at the control board.

"Which key is it again?" Gir asked.

"Any key, just push the space bar." Computer suggested. Gir pressed the long key and the screen lit up to the desktop. "Atlas, after twenty hours!"

"Can we play on you now?" Gir asked nicely.

"No, you cannot. Aha!"

"But you said we could!" Gir protested.

"I never said I promised kid, now go play somewhere else. I have emails to check. See if got any new messages on my Face-Space." Computer went to his profile page and viewed the message one of his friends of four hundred left. Kevin Melanky wrote: 'Who do you work for?' Computer typed up his responded and posted: 'An annoying green alien keeping me trapped in his lab.' A few seconds later Kevin Melanky posted: 'lol'.

"I'm telling Zim!" Gir cried out.

"And ruin his big date? Yeah, I know what's going on. You can't keep me in the dark even if you do turn off the lights." Computer rants proudly but once he finished his sentence Computer saw both the little robots in tears. Computer sighed. "I guess you can play on my key board for a little while."

"Yay!" Gir and Minimoose squealed then Gir ran to the bottom of the bookshelf to pick out his board game.

"Let's play Monopolize!" Gir said jumping on the control board while Minimoose floated over it.

"Ohhh…I hate Monopolize and since when did we have board games in the lab?" Computer asked. Gir and Minimoose didn't care to answer because they were arguing over who would be the dog piece. Then a new message popped up on Computer's Face-Space. It said Dib wanted to be friends with Computer. Computer opened the invitation and hit ignore. "You wish, loser!"

* * *

Mary and Zim wondered through the Botanical Garden discovering all sorts of exotic plants. They came across a green house, went inside to see red hot cattails, Chinese evergreens, African violets, Venus flytraps, spider plants, bamboo and black bamboo, gardenias, frangipani flowers and different kinds of cacti. Mary wanted to stay longer but Zim said his skin felt itchy. They agreed he stayed too long in the humid environment and walked outside. With Mary by his side, they went to the gift shop next to the green house. Zim spotted on a rack, necklaces with flower shaped pendants dangling, shining brightly off the sun's beam. It hit his eye catching his attention to what Gaz told him a few days ago. He saw Mary walk to the pendants, then by it to see the flowers the shop was selling. Zim shrugged his shoulders, then joined her. Zim saw single flowers for sale costing only a dollar.

"Which one is your favorite?" Zim asked as she viewed the flower bed.

"Lilies, I love their shape." Mary said. Zim picked a cut white lily from the bunch, looped the stem through her hair and placed it on top her earlobe.

"They shape nicely on you." Zim commented holding her cheek. Mary shyly smiled at him then caught glimpse of a perfect flower for him. Mary picked the flower and put it in his front jacket's pocket. Zim looked down at the brightly red, yellow color fringed petals flower Mary placed in his pocket.

"What kind is this?" Zim asked pointing at it.

"A hibiscus flower." Mary spoke delighted.

"Is it to reflect my personality?" Zim slyly asked.

"Yep!"

"You are way off. Where are those snapdragons?" Zim asked. Mary chuckled at his joke. Zim went to the cashier to pay, then they were in the Garden walking along the concrete path. Following the path, they saw hydrangeas in all four different colors, sweet peas, and a whole arrangement of violets and pansies. When crossing the stone bridge, Mary thought she saw a minnow in the water and looked down. As she titled her head, Mary lost her lily in the stream. She apologized but Zim told not to and gave her his. He didn't feel comfortable walking around with a flower in his pocket. It felt very unlike him, in fact, it was very unlike him to be in this Garden surrounded by flowers. If someone asked him a couple of months ago if he liked be surrounded in a garden of frilly flowers, he would have punched him but now, with Mary wrapped around his arm leaning on him, he was enjoying it.

"Zim, are you hungry?" Mary asked.

"Yes, a little. How about you?" Zim asked her. Mary nodded. Zim looked at his watch. "We must be, we been wondering in this Garden for hours. Let's eat somewhere."

Zim led Mary to the exit and they left the Botanical Gardens to finding a place to dine. They walked on the sidewalk looking at possible restaurants. They searched around downtown until they found one they both wanted to eat at. Zim and Mary entered the establishment. It was well lit with few guests occupying the many tables the restaurant had. The host greeted the two.

"Hello, how many people in your group?" The host simply asked.

"Just two." Zim replied.

"Then supposedly you would like a table for two?" The snarky host asked taking quick glances at them, but mostly at Zim and then turned around. "Lovely, come this way."

Zim glared at the host leading them to their table.

'What's his problem?' Zim thought. The host stopped at their two chaired table and took their seats sitting across each other. The host handed them their menus.

"Today's soup of the day is cream of potato bacon. Is there anything would you like to drink?" The host asked.

"Just water, please." Mary said.

"As for you, Sir, would you like water too?" He asked.

"NO!" Zim shouted. The host stared at him oddly. "I mean, I would like Cola, with a straw please."

"Certainly, I'll be back to with your drinks and to take your orders." The host rolled his eyes and walked away to seat another table. Zim opened his menu hiding his embarrassing reaction from Mary.

"You didn't need to shout." Mary stated.

"I know, it's been conditioned in my mind to." Zim defended his actions. Mary shrugged her shoulders and opened her menu also. She spotted the pricey dishes and looked up at Zim.

"These are kind of expensive. Five dollars for a basket of appetizing bread sticks? We can go somewhere else if you like." Mary suggested since Zim told her earlier he would pay for dinner, but Zim shook his head.

"No, don't worry. I'm good for it. You get whatever you like." Zim told her confidently. Mary smiled and looked back at the menu while he tried to find the cheapest meal on the menu which wouldn't kill him. Zim saw they had salad and decided to get it. Mary was ready to order too. The host returned with their drinks placing each drink to their right.

"So have you made a decision?" The host asked.

"Yes, I would like to have the Chicken Risotto Dish please." Mary answered.

"Excellent choice, Miss, and what would you have?" The host directed his attention to Zim.

"I'll just have a salad, please." Zim said.

"A salad?" The host questioned.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Zim asked him.

"No, it's just the salads are very small. It usually a choice of side dishes and wouldn't make a proper meal." The host explained.

"Well, can't you make it bigger?" Zim rudely asked.

"I don't know if we have any bowls for a bigger salad." The host honestly answered. "Perhaps, if I could suggest-

"It doesn't have to be in bowl. I don't see how this is a problem," Zim rose his voice getting angry. "I just want a-" Then he looked at Mary who was hiding her face in her hand. Zim took a deep breath and start over. "Look, I'm sorry for stressing the salad. It's just I'm highly allergic and I don't think I could eat anything else on the menu."

"Oh," The host said. "I understand. I'm highly allergic to peanuts as well. Maybe I can explain to the chief your situation and he could prepare it to your liking."

"If you could, I would be forever grateful." Zim said.

"Of course, what would you like in your salad?" He asked.

"Any kind of veggie, just no meat or cheese in it."

"Choice of dressing?" The host asked writing down the order.

"None, I like to put salt and pepper on it."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'll be back shortly with your orders." The host said.

"Thank you." Zim said.

"You're very welcome." The host said walking away. Zim watched him leave and placed his arm on the table and sighed. Zim felt warmth upon his fingers to see Mary's fingers curled on to his.

"You handled that well." Mary praised him.

"I didn't want to make a scene." Zim admitted. "It wouldn't be worth it since you already order."

"The waiter was a little rude." Mary stated her opinion.

"True, but that's behind us. Our meals will arrive soon, we'll eat and go."

"Hopefully not as fast as you stated." Mary cleverly replied, and then she laid the tip her index finger upon Zim's claw like finger examining it's sharpness. "You're fingers are quite pointy. It's no wonder you weren't born with fingernails. I bet you scratch somebody pretty good just by slapping him."

"Yes, I could, but usually I don't." Zim said then placed his other hand upon hers. "When you were hypnotized, Dib suggested that I should slap you to wake you from the horrible state. I didn't want to so instead I kissed you to see if it would do, but you didn't wake. I was so worried I lost you and when you awoke, I was so happy, but then you were mad. The whole day was a mess. I hope today makes up for any inconvenience I caused you."

"Oh, Zim, this day has been better than anything I could dream." Mary said sweetly. "I'm really enjoying myself and next time you tell me not to enter your house, I'll listen. I couldn't ask for a more perfect date. Where did you come up with the idea of going to the Botanical Gardens?"

"To be perfectly honest, Prof. Membrane suggested it. He had two tickets and gave them to me." Zim admitted.

"That was really nice of him."

"Remember at skool when everyone was discussing how I didn't celebrate my birthday?"

"Yes,"

"I remembered later somebody did and it was him, he gave me a soldering kit because he was praising me for choosing to live human. November 13th six years ago, was the day my whole life changed. I was no longer an Invader banished by my people, Dib, my worst enemy became my ally and his father freed me from becoming tortured all my life and saved it during the operation."

"When you mean save it, you mean…" Mary awkwardly asked.

"Exactly what it means, I died for a few seconds, then was revived. My Pak removed and free from shock. Sure, it felt like I was reborn which is why I chose November 13th to be my Earth Birthday, but I never bothered to celebrate. I'm just grateful to be alive; though it was nice he did give me something last year even if it was a reward for not conquering Earth and choosing to act human."

"I think he didn't give you the present for being good, he may have given it to show you he cares and consider you part of his family." Mary offered her opinion.

"Hmmm…Never thought about it that way." Zim pondered rubbing his chin.

"Professor Membrane told me he cares for you like his own son."

"He did?" Zim questioned truly surprised. "He said that."

"Yes, Zim." Mary assured him.

"Huh." Zim plainly peeped then rested his head on his hand looking away then glanced back at Mary. "What else did he say?"

"He told me he wished you would come to him more often when you need help or guidance." Mary rephrased what Professor Membrane told her days ago.

"Yep, sounds like him." Zim said then sipped his soda. "He's always asking if I need anything or having problems or whatever. He always trying to look after me but to be frankly honest, I really don't need his help. I already know how to take care of myself. I have a job, my own house and going to skool."

"I don't think he means financially, you know talk one on one with him about what bugging you. Social problems maybe?" Mary suggested.

"I don't have social problems." Zim said confused. "Do you think I have social problems?"

"No, that's not what I meant. Like you need someone to talk to if you have a problem." Mary explained more clearly.

"Well, I have you and Dib for that." Zim stated.

"Doesn't mean you can't talk to him either." Mary said becoming annoyed.

"I can't bother him with my little problems. The man is Lord of Science and has a whole world asking his help. My problems compare to theirs seems petty. Do you know not every human has access to electricity? Don't you find that shocking?"

"Yes, shocking." Mary flatly agreed giving up on the conversation moving to a new topic.

"How would anybody see at night without light bulbs guiding their way?" Zim asked her.

"Fire?" Mary said.

"Oh," Zim peeped then chuckled. "Oh, yeah. Mary, you're so smart."

"And you are pretty smart too." Mary said nicely patting his hand then the host came by their table carrying Zim's salad on a platter.

"Here is your salad, Sir." He said placing the plate in front of Zim.

"Looks good. Thank you." Zim said politely.

"You're welcome and your dish will be ready shortly, Miss." He informed Mary. She nodded and he walked away. Mary looked over to Zim staring at his salad.

"Aren't you hungry?" Mary asked him curiously.

"I am. I'm just waiting for your food to be ready. I don't want to eat without you."

"You can. I don't care. You don't have to wait for me." Mary said to him.

"But I want to. I want us to eat together, but if your meal is taking too long, you can eat some off my plate." Zim offered his delicious salad. Mary looked at the salad then at Zim, who was demonstrating impressive restraint, waiting for her meal. Knowing Zim, Mary knew he could get very hungry.

"Sure, I would like a few bites of your salad." Mary said.

"Great," Zim said brightly then displayed the salad between them. Mary picked up a fork while Zim already had lettuce skewed in his. Zim gobbled bites of his salad while Mary only took one.

"And when my food comes, you can have some of mine too." Mary suggested.

"Nah, I don't think I could eat it. What's risotto anyways?" Zim asked while his mouth full.

"It's basically rice." Mary stated picking at a sliced tomato in his salad.

"I should have ordered risotto." Zim said then shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, well."

Zim took smaller bites of his salad feeling not so hungry waiting for Mary's food. Eventually, the host came back and served her the Chicken Risotto. Mary happily scooped a bite from her rice meal and thought it was delicious. She offered some to Zim, but Zim was content to eating his meal more than Mary's. They sat quietly enjoying their dinner. The host came by to ask how they were enjoying their meals. Zim and Mary told him everything was great, then the host said he'll be back with the their check. The host returned with their bill leaving it on the table. It was in a black plastic tray covered by two hard peppermints candies. Zim asked if she'd like one but Mary refused. Zim stuck them in his pocket and said he'll give them to Gir and Minimoose. Zim looked at the bill, saw it was mildly expensive and agreeable. After eating, they went up to their host at the register. Zim paid thirty for the meal and told him to keep the change as his tip and they left the restaurant.

"Whoa," Zim exclaimed surprised seeing the sun set. "It's getting dark. Perhaps it is time for us to go home."

"It can't be late already?" Mary said disappointed.

"But it is. It's already 6:45." Zim said looking at his watch.

"I don't want our day to end, just not yet." Mary expressed holding Zim's hand.

"Well, what do you want to do?" Zim asked.

"Somewhere where we can sit quietly, together." Mary said silently but Zim understood her message clearly. She wanted to spend more time with him privately so they can be affectionate. Zim agreed the date was too public to display their love nor did he feel the need to entertain complete strangers. He was about to suggest going to his house, but of course, Gir and Minimoose were awaiting his arrival and if they saw Mary, they wouldn't even have a chance to kiss their privacy good bye instead Zim thought of the perfect spot. A spot so perfect, he haven't visit in years and wondered if it was still assessable.

"I know where we can go. It's around here but it's quite a walk. Are you up for it?

"Sure, let's go." Mary said excited. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise; a secret spot. You'll know once we get there." Zim vaguely replied but his discreet rose Mary's excitement and took Zim by his arm. Mary followed Zim to his secret location without uttering a single word so she wouldn't spoil the moment and when they arrived, she was very surprised because Zim brought her to a pond. Yeah, a pond. Zim walked Mary behind a neighborhood in their woods, finding a public domain pond. It wasn't very big or funded. It had one picnic table and a single street lamp above it which went on when Mary and Zim came on the scene. Despite its appeal, it was private. Nobody was here because it offered nothing but a quiet afternoon in the park feeding ducklings. The water looked murky as it reflected the moon's waxing reflection. The street light turned off sensing no more motion serving the moon to be their source of light. Mary stared blankly at the pond.

"What did I tell you?" Zim said pleased to find the forgotten place. "Is this a perfect spot or what?"

"Well, I'm a bit shocked. Wouldn't think you would bring me to a pond."

"You guess me right. I don't usually visit ponds or lakes, but long ago I had one of my 'destroy all humanity' duck stations here. As you can see, it proved unsuccessful and the pond is vacant. The birds must have migrated which double our chances to be not interrupted." Zim said walking a few steps then sat down viewing the pond. Zim offered Mary his hand. "Come sit with me."

Mary laid her hand on his, then knelt to the ground, setting herself on the grass' evening dew. Mary felt a slight chill hover to her arms as the wind drifted the pond's icy temperature. Mary's teeth began to chatter adjusting to the chill. Zim noticed her discomfort when she withdrawn her hand placing them on her forearms.

"Cold?" Zim wondered and she nodded.

"Just a bit."

"More than just a bit." Zim said then took off his jacket and wrapped it around her.

"Zim, what about you? Surely you'll be cold." Mary asked surprised by his kind gesture.

"I'll be fine." Zim tried to hide his chill holding his arms but Mary saw through him.

"No, I won't accept it if you're going to be cold too." Mary said placing her hand on the collar to take off the jacket then Zim nudged closer to her and slipped his arms in his jacket around her waist holding her so close his arms were covered.

"There," Zim whispered. "Now we're both warm." Mary blushed seeing his knees touching hers, bodies aligned as they embraced each other. Mary wrapped her arms around Zim and settle resting her chin on his shoulder. She laid her cheek upon his neck.

"Cozy?" Zim asked.

"Mmmm hmmm.." Mary sighed her pleasure.

"Good," Zim said hugging her closer then looked up at the night's sky. "The stars sure are bright tonight."

"Can you see your home planet?" Mary asked.

"No, Irk's in another galaxy. It's too far away to see. I would point it out if I saw it."

Mary gazed into the sky seeing all the different specs of stars and constellations, then thought of Zim and glanced around seeing trees surrounding their view.

"Zim, would you like to take off your disguise?" Mary asked him. "It should be safe."

"Would you like to see me without it?" Zim questioned.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" Mary questioned back. Zim smiled remembering she liked his true appearance then thought of another question.

"But where would I put it?" Zim asked.

"You can stick it in my purse." Mary offered her solution. Zim nodded, and then Mary lifted from his neck, took off his coat, removed the purse across her chest and released the clasp. Zim carefully took off his wig and contacts and put them in her purse. Mary set the purse beside her and quickly put on his jacket feeling warmth return to her. She looked into his eyes and saw they glow a dull red reflected from the moonlight.

"Your eyes are glowing." Mary teased him.

"How brightly?" Zim asked.

"Barely, it's reflecting off the light like a kitty cat."

"Don't you dare." Zim jokily warned her. "If you start calling me kitty cat, I will have to call you Tina 2."

Mary chuckled at him.

"I'm not going to call you kitty cat. That's their thing. In fact, I haven't heard you call me Mary Moo Cow forever."

"I only call you Mary Moo Cow when I'm teasing you, but I haven't so I find calling you Mary more enjoyable. It sounds prettier." Zim said then hugged her. She looked away bashfully then blushed.

"Oh, stop. My name isn't as pretty as others. It's very common."

"Not if you say it correctly. I'll prove it to you." Zim said then raised his hand brushing it through her hair as he pulled her close to him. He held her cheek and whispered in her ear. "Maaarry…" She didn't say word when he proven his point, then looked into her eyes. He felt her beauty was divine. "See, you look so pretty I…" Zim couldn't finish his sentence for he had succumbed and kissed her cheek, then for a second time, and then kissed the corner of her mouth. Mary steady herself as she kissed his lips wrapping her arms around his shoulders fearing their passion will melt her away. They kissed over and over, each kiss pushed away and back to the lips again. Eventually, they settle with opened mouth long kisses. During their especially long kisses, Zim caressed her figure sliding his hand down her hip to her uncovered knee and squeezed it. Mary's shyness went away once he made his sneaky move to display his affection. She locked her arms under his arms and gripped his shoulders. She thought she could handle anymore of his surprises but the slip of his tongue says otherwise. Mary felt the slight tip of his tongue, then more when he licked the inside of her cheek, then rolled it on her tongue and licked her under half. He touched her few times then rubbed her lower lip to complete his kiss. When she opened her eyes, Zim was smiling a toothy grin.

"Did you like it?" Zim slyly asked. Before he could breathe another question, Mary wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She parted her mouth along with Zim's in their kiss and returns the courtesy by placing her tongue in his mouth. Her tongue hugged his narrow tongue while they kissed. Mary released his tongue and licked his lower jaw and lips exiting his mouth.

"Yes, I did." Mary whispered. Zim found himself inches away smelling the light hint of her perfume then he began bowing his head.

"You smell so sweet like…" Zim whispered touching his lips below her chin. "Raspberries." Zim barrage her with dozen kisses as he moved his way to the softest part of neck. Mary couldn't speak or didn't want to while he gently nipped her neck. She found herself rubbing his head while he kissed her. She rested her chin and cheek on top of his head entertained by the twitch of his antennas feeling his teeth nuzzle her neck each time he kissed. Mary liked caressing his head while he kissed. It was her special way of showing her affection. Mary petted his left antenna flat while petting his head. Zim felt her affection and his grown for her. He began biting. Mary felt the sting of his teeth clench her neck and gasped.

"Not so rough." Mary suddenly spoke. Zim heard her request, stopped, and then return to gentle kisses. Zim pause his kisses.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be too rough." Zim whispered then kissed her. "I just really love you."

To his confession, Mary lifted Zim's chin and held it as she gazed into his eyes.

"And I love you, Zim." Mary said and kissed him between his eyes. He closed them feeling her soft kisses move from between them to touching his eye lid. Mary nipped his cheek, then his lips as they continue kissing. Zim, once more, ran his fingers through her curly locks and held her. He wanted to lay her in the grass while kissing but heard an irritating sound which made his left antenna twitch. Mary opened her left eye hearing the annoying buzz. It was coming from her purse. She let go of his lips.

"What is it?" Zim asked looking at her purse.

"It's my phone." Mary said taking it out of her purse. She looked at the outer case's screen to see who's calling and gasped. "It's my Dad! Oh geez, what time is it? It can't be that late."

"It is." Zim said. "It's after ten."

"I was supposed to be home at nine."

"Crap, you didn't tell me you had a curfew."

"I didn't know we were out this late." Mary panicked hearing the constant buzz of her phone. "I'm in so much trouble." She whined and answered her phone. "Hi, Dad."

"Where are you!"

Zim heard her father scream.

"Ummm…" Mary hummed not sure.

"At Duck Shy Park." Zim told her.

"At Duck Shy Park." Mary repeated to her father.

"Why are you there? Do you have any idea what time it is? Stay where you are. I'll be there shortly and is Zim there?"

"Yes, he's with me." Mary answered him.

"Tell him I'll see him soon." Her father threatens and hung up. Mary slowly drifted her phone away from her ear and dropped her hand on her lap.

"I heard him. You don't need to repeat." Zim told her. "He sounds very angry."

"He is very angry." Mary said nervously.

"Well, let's not make him anymore angrier and meet him at the gate." Zim said standing up pulling her up. Mary picked up her purse and handed it to him.

"You should probably change back unless you want to scare my Dad too."

"At least he won't be mad. He'd be terrified." Zim chuckled then found his wig and contacts. "But let's save that drama for another night."

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you my curfew." Mary said walking with him. "Now my Dad is mad at you too."

"It's partially my fault. I should have kept track of time. That's why I wore a watch. Hard to believe we made out for so long."

"It seemed quick." Mary agreed.

"Yep, time flies when you're…uh…"

"Having a good time." Mary finished his sentence.

"That's the saying." Zim snapped his fingers. They walked on path to the front gate and stood along the sidewalk so they were visible. Mary looked up at Zim who yawned. They waited for five minutes.

"You can go home if you like if you don't want to face my Dad. I can handle it." Mary suggested.

"And leave you alone out here, never! Besides, it wouldn't look good if he saw I left you. I can take his screaming." Zim said proudly.

"Thanks for staying with me."

"No need to thank me. Standing with you is not a requirement, it's a privilege."

"Are you cold? I can give you-" Mary asked getting ready to take off his jacket but Zim pulled the collar up to stop her.

"Not at all." Zim whitely lied. "I'm fine." Zim stuck his hands in his pockets idling waiting for her father to show up. They watched a few cars resembling her father's pass by. Each one was a bitter relief. Mary recognized her father's car coming up over the hill and quickly held Zim's hand. Zim held hers tighter as he pulled over to the curb beside the sidewalk. Zim and Mary waited for Professor Weylin to get out of the car and give them a harsh lecture but instead after twenty seconds, Prof. Weylin sat in the car engine still running. He tapped his horn letting out a loud honk.

"I guess he doesn't want to kill me." Zim said out of shock.

"Do you want a ride home?" Mary awkwardly asked.

"Nuh-uh!" Zim peeped shaking his head. Mary nodded and hugged him.

"Thank you for a magical evening." Mary told him as she let go. Zim kissed her forehead. Her father honked his horn twice impatiently.

"You have a good night." Zim told her.

"You too." Mary said then ran up to her father's car. She opened the car door and Zim immediately heard her father.

"What were you thinking being out this late with him!" Her father screamed while she went into the car. When she shut her door, the car drove off quickly leaving Zim watching her father's sporadic driving.

"Wow, he's fast." Zim said out loud continued watching. "He ran a red light and my wallet is in my coat. Just like that I'm stranded."

Zim shuddered, and then clench the phone in his pocket. He took it out and dialed. The person on the other line answered.

"Professor Membrane, this is Zim. Could you pick me up? I don't have my bus pass. No, I didn't lose it. I lend Mary my jacket and forgot I had my wallet in it. I'm at Duck Shy Pond. It's on Red Ceil Boulevard. Yes, next to the snooty neighborhood. No, I don't believe they did well hiring another contractor other than your friend to fix their solar panels. Their lights barely work. Please Membrane, could you pick me up? I'm freezing. Thank you, I'll see you soon."


	35. Beware Birds and Hormonal Bumble Bees

Author note: Yes, finally another chapter completed! I'm sorry it took so long to post. I was really really busy but anytime I had some free time, I would write in my notebook to keep things rollin'. I didn't want you guys to think I stopped writing the story just this chapter took longer than expected with plenty of distractions in my life to keep me occupied. Next chapter won't take that long, I promise. Anyways, concerning the chapter, there is going to be a word in **Bold** you may or may not know. If you don't know it, don't look it up because I have the definition in the story. Once you found the **Bold **word, you can scroll down to see the definition or for more of a dramatic effect read the story, then the definition when you read to it. Either way, it will be hilarious. So please enjoy the chapter which took, let's see...A month in a half to complete. Dang...

* * *

It's a Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 35: Beware the Birds and Hormonal Bumble Bees

Leaning on the park's gate, Zim waited for Prof. Membrane to pick him up. His patience wore thin like his skin deeply sensitive to the lowered temperature of this cold winter Sunday night. Zim constantly glanced at his watch hoping time would become faster at each glance. Sadly, it was never the case.

"Where is he?" Zim groaned stuffing his hands in his pockets. "He should be here by now. Duck Shy Pond is not far from his lab. Don't tell me today was his day off."

After twenty minutes of him ranting, time passed and eventually Zim saw Prof. Membrane car coming towards him. He smiled gratefully when it pulled over to the curb.

"Finally!" Zim exclaimed as Prof. Membrane rolled down the window.

"Hello there, Zim." Prof. Membrane greeted. "I would have you sit in the front passenger, but I had to strap in my most important recent project. You'll just have to join Dib in the back."

"Dib?" Zim questioned then peered through the window. Dib rolled down his window.

"Zim, get in the car or do you want us to go home without you." Dib teased. Zim opened his car door.

"Move your ass over." Zim demanded.

"Please?" Dib hinted rudely.

"Please…" Zim hissed.

Dib unbuckled his seat belt and slid to the left seat to let Zim in. Zim shut the car door and Prof. Membrane turned on the road. The warmth of the heater hit his body. Zim rubbed his arms happy embracing it. He clicked on his seat belt then turned to Dib who was looking out the window.

"Didn't think you would be here." Zim said.

"Dib and I been out all day." Prof. Membrane joined in the conversation.

"Yeah, Dad and I just dropped off the City's gorilla at the Zoo, then we picked up his latest chemical experiment."

"My radiation treatment decreased the amount of cancer cells without the patient losing much of its hair. Since it was a success on the gorilla, I decided to work on a chemical compound to make this effect work on humans explaining the containers wrapped tightly in my front seat."

"Dad is very protective of his chemicals."

"Damn straight. Excuse me language but if any bottle broke, it would be deadly, not to mention costly having to replace them."

"Why aren't these in your lab downtown?" Zim asked a cautious question.

"I thought they would be safer at my house while they finished construction at work. You never know, one minute claw comes crashing in our lab and bam! Nuclear Explosion."

"You have the compounds of a Nuclear Explosion in your car!" Zim gasped.

"No, no, I have lesser compounds of a nuclear explosion in my car. It's perfectly safe."

"Uhh," Zim sighed doubting it looking out the window.

"How was your date?" Prof. Membrane asked.

"It was good. Mary really enjoyed the Botanical Gardens." Zim informed him.

"Glad to hear." Prof. Membrane said pleased.

"If your date was at Botanical Gardens, then why are we picking you up at Duck Shy Park? Tell me Zim, were you guys intimate?" Dib asked.

"Uhhhh…." Zim's face lit up. "We were just- Like I'm gonna tell you what we were doing, Earth-Stink!"

"I don't need to hear another word. Your discreet is evident enough." Dib snickered. Zim turned away from his chuckling.

"Zim, it is my duty to tell you if you and Mary decide to take your relationship to more sexual extremes you should always wear a condom." Prof. Membrane stated simply. "Or whatever your species wear to protect oneself."

"Where did that come from?" Zim screamed mortified.

"I'm just saying, if you do want to have intercourse it's okay as long as you two do it safely."

"We only had one date!" Zim protested.

"I know, but sometimes one date is all it takes." Prof. Membrane stated. "I don't know exactly how your species mate or if there is a specific time but I think it's too early to be spreading your seed especially to a young human girl."

"This is the best car ride ever." Dib laughed.

"Let me out," Zim said jiggle the door handle. "Unlock the door, drop me off. I can walk from here. Just please let me out."

"Don't be ridiculous. We are not even half way home." Prof. Membrane said turning the next corner. "Zim, you shouldn't be embarrassed by what I told you. If you can't take this conversation seriously then maybe you're not ready for sex."

"That's because I'm not!" Zim finally shrieked.

"Oh," Prof. Membrane said stopping at a red light. "If that's the case, continue being abstinence, but wear a condom if you change your mind."

"Okay, okay, I will just stop talking about it!"

"Good, glad we had this little talk." Prof. Membrane said pleased. Dib stopped silently laughing and whispered to Zim.

"If you thought this was awkward imagine having this talk in front of your girlfriend. I think it was one of the reasons why Gretchen and I broke up."

After Dib spoke, Zim didn't say another word. He sat quietly trying to recover from the embarrassing conversation.

"So how come Mary wasn't with you?" Dib asked.

"Her Dad came by earlier to pick her up." Zim said.

"And not you?"

"Nope, I didn't want him to take me home. Mary broke curfew so he was really mad."

"You already pissed off your girlfriend's Dad?" Dib laughed.

"Yeah, but it was on accident. I didn't know she had to be home by nine."

"That's the first thing you ask on a date. Zim, you really suck at this."

"Shut up!" Zim said punching Dib in the arm. Dib squeaked from the pain but continued laughing.

"Settle down back there." Prof. Membrane warned them. Zim crossed his arms and turned away from Dib. Dib rubbed his arm, and then smacked the back of Zim's head. Zim, wanting to retaliate, didn't for he wasn't in the mood to challenge him to a slap fight. Prof. Membrane finally dropped Zim off at his house. Zim got out of the car and quickly ran to the front door. He opened it and Gir jumped on him. Zim caught him as he landed in his chest. Minimoose floated next to Zim.

"You back!" Gir screamed delighted.

"Yep, missed me?" Zim asked like he already didn't know. Both Gir and Minimoose nodded then welcome Zim inside. Gir told Zim about him and Minimoose's day. They told him how long they played Monopolize with Computer. Zim was alarmed at first when Gir told him he freed Computer from his punishment but let it go since he did watch them. Zim told them it was time for bed and they eventually agreed after whining their complaints. The next day after breakfast, Zim walked to the bus stop. He found some change lying so he figured he use the bus to get to skool. He tried calling Mary if she would bring his coat and wallet, but she didn't answer. Zim stared at his phone waiting for Dib and Gaz to come out of their house. Dib caught Zim checking his phone while greeting him.

"Expecting a call?" Dib asked walking with his sister.

"I called Mary earlier but she didn't pick up." Zim said.

"She probably couldn't answer. You'll see her at skool later." Dib assured.

"I just hope she remembered to bring my coat." Zim commented feeling chilled from the early spring morning air. They waited for the bus to arrive and when it came, they boarded. Zim, thinking he would see Mary on the same bus, looked around to find her but didn't. Dib saw him glancing around. Zim looked over to Dib.

"You think Prof. Weylin would be so mad at Mary he wouldn't allow her to go to skool?" Zim questioned Dib.

"It would be ridiculous. I don't think he would go that far." Dib said.

"I don't know. He's pretty strict." Zim said not convinced by Dib's answer. Dib rolled his eyes and remained quiet leaving Zim to his over exaggerated worries. When they arrived at skool, Gaz boarded off alone while Dib had to hear Zim's rant. "What if he made her go to a different skool?"

"On short notice; please Zim, be reasonable." Dib said walking away.

"It could happen." Zim said keeping pace with him.

"I doubt it." Dib increased his pace trying to get away from him.

"What if he made arrangements overnight?" Zim continued with his transfer theory.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" Dib questioned. "She will not be transferred because she broke curfew. Lots of kids break curfew and you don't see them missing the next day."

"But she missed the bus." Zim said.

"She doesn't take the bus all the time." Dib pointed out. Zim thought of his statement and knew he was right. He just remembered her father takes her to skool sometimes.

"Perhaps I'm exaggerating." Zim admitted.

"You think?" Dib blankly said.

"Sorry, my worries worsen when she didn't answer her phone."

"Maybe her phone was taken away as part of her punishment?" Dib threw in the possibility.

"Is that a more reasonable punishment?" Zim asked.

"Better than you thinking she was transferred."

"Her phone taken away is more logical or maybe she missed the call on accident." Zim pondered.

"Now you're using your brain. About time." Dib complained walking up the steps to their skool. "I'm sure you'll see her soon."

Zim smiled at Dib for lessening his concerns. Zim entered the skool with Dib and walked with him once more to chit chat.

"I'm glad you decided to take a more logical root than sticking to paranormal nonsense." Zim grinned to him.

"Not all of it is nonsense." Dib said interested in Zim's topic. "It is real."

"Yes, but some of the real tales are idiotic. As I remember the time you threaten me with a fat demon. What exactly were you trying to achieve again?" Dib sighed then cringed while giving Zim his answer.

"I was trying to get Mortos to steal your soul."

"Steal my soul!" Zim chuckled. "And what would you do with it? Put it in a jar?"

"Are you trying to mock me?" Dib cringed with anger and annoyance.

"No, just encouraging you to stay away from stupid black magic." Zim smirk to Dib.

"Where is your girlfriend anyways?" Dib turned around and began walking in the hallways. Zim followed him.

"What, you don't like my company?" Zim teased him.

"You're starting to get under my skin." Dib expressed his agitation.

"Have to get you back for slapping me somehow." Zim recalled the incident in the car yesterday.

"Then slap me already." Dib gave him permission but Zim refused.

"Nah, this is a lot more fun." Zim enjoyed teasing Dib and continued. "Dib, remember when you cursed Gaz and graveled to me for help?"

"Ah, go away!" Dib begged walking to their locker. Zim followed to get his books too.

"What was it you cursed her? A pig demon gave her pork taste buds. It still cracks me up. Ah hah ha ha!" Zim laughed.

"Be quiet. I'm trying to remember the combo." Dib said turning the lock dial.

"It's three, four, five." Zim reminded Dib. "They didn't think that through."

Dib entered the combo and pulled on the locker handle but it didn't budge. Zim laughed louder.

"I can't believe you actually believed me!"

"Zim…" Dib graveled his name. Zim hysterically laughed at him. Dib was about to smack him but hesitated seeing a familiar red head coming their way. She took his jacket and hung it on his shoulders. Zim stopped laughing once he saw his long black sleeve then sense a presence of gentle squeeze of her hands. Zim turned his head to see her.

"Good morning, Zim." Mary spoke sweetly and kissed his cheek.

"Good morning, Mary." Zim said surprised then slipped on his jacket while Mary stood to him.

"There, one mystery solved." Dib said then muttered. "Now, what's that combo? Oh, yeah..." Dib twisted the dial leaving those two to talk. Zim noticed Mary's new outfit. She wore a canary yellow button up top and medium length fringed light pink skirt with her usual brown boots.

"You look lovely." Zim complimented her.

"Oh, thank you." Mary blushed then rambled. "I picked the skirt out at the mall with Tina then I remembered I had this shirt at home which would go perfect with it. You really like it, huh?"

"Yeah, it suits you." Zim said then held her hand keeping his eyes on her. Mary stopped girly ranting and moved to a more serious matter.

"I'm sorry I accidentally took your jacket. When I realized I had your wallet, I told my Dad we should go back but he said it was too late and ran a red light." Mary said still bewildered by what happened.

"So, how much in trouble are you?" Zim asked.

"I'm grounded for a week." Mary said brightly.

"You don't seem too sad about it." Zim smirked wondering why she was so happy.

"I know I should be but I'm so happy to see you. He's taking the grounding way overboard. He's picking me up and from skool every day until my punishment is over. I'm not even allowed to volunteer at the orphanage. My freedom been completely cut."

"Did he take your phone too?" Zim asked.

"No," Mary said "He didn't."

"Oh, I thought he did because I tried to call you earlier."

"You did?" Mary said then unzipped her backpack pouch containing her phone. She checked it and saw it was true. "I'm sorry, my phone was on silent."

"It's alright. I was calling to remind you to bring my jacket." Zim informed her.

"I wouldn't forget to bring it. By the way, I noticed you had a hole in one of your pockets so I fixed it."

Zim stuck his hand in the pocket and felt its stitching.

"Thank you, Mary." Zim said gratefully.

"You're welcome." Mary said back. "I know your Quarter Exam for Calculus is this Friday but I'm going to try my best to convince my Dad to have me set up a study session the night before."

"Don't go through the trouble if he says no. I can study most of the stuff on my own."

"Most of it, but not all. That's why I want to set it up."

"Okay, see if you can but if not don't worry about it."

"Okay," Mary agreed then looked at her phone time. "Oh my, class is about to start. I'll see you at lunch. Bye!" Mary waved good bye while Dib looked annoyed at Zim waving good bye.

"Zim, you lucky bastard!" Dib spoke and shut his locker.

"What?" Zim peeped confused by his anger.

"How did YOU manage to get the perfect girlfriend?"

"She's not perfect." Zim tried to deny.

"She gives back your jacket, fixed a hole in it, she doesn't blame you for being in trouble and despite being grounded she goes out of her way to set you up a study session to help you pass. That's perfect in my book."

"Okay, you're right. She is perfect. I disagreed to make you feel not so bad." Zim finally agreed and smiled happily at his fortune.

"I hate you so much." Dib said not so happy about his luck.

"Gosh Dib, if you want a steady girlfriend, try dating the reserved types. Not the crazy extroverts who are emotionally unbalanced." Zim described Dib's past girlfriends.

"But they are more exciting." Dib whined opinion in his selection of girls.

"Well, it's not my problem now is it?" Zim lashed to Dib's complains.

"No, guess not." Dib silently agreed. They settle down and walked to class. They found their seats and sat with their classmates. Mr. Holic sat at his desk waiting for the bell to ring before he addressed his class. It rang two minutes later. Mr. Holic stood up.

"Well, well, well. Guess what's coming five days by now."

"The Quarter Exam?" One student asked.

"WRONG!" Mr. Holic screamed slamming his hands on his desk. "No wait, you were right. It is the Quarter Exam but not any Quarter Exam. It will be the hardest Quarter Exam in your whole entire life!"

"That's what you said about last quarter!" A kid shouted.

"Who said that?" Mr. Holic shouted. He gazed around the room looking for his guilty suspect and found nobody suspicious. He had to let it go.

"Whoever you may be I will assure you it's a lot harder than second quarter. It will have one hundred and three multiple choice questions you will have to complete in one hour and a half. Some story problems others a labyrinth of complicated equations. All answers will be recorded on a score card. No writing on the tests. If you don't use your scratch paper, you get a zero. Is that understood?"

His students nodded.

"Good, let me explain which chapters are on the test." Mr. Holic said. Zim, Dib and their classmates wrote each chapter. Zim felt his belly itch and put his fingers in his coat pocket to scratch. When he did, he felt something flab on his fingers connected in his pocket. Zim thought it was strange and pulled out the inside of his pocket to take a look. There, he saw, "I love you", embroider in his pocket. It was stitch a signature I, a red heart shape patch stitched in the middle and completed with a single signature vowel. Zim stunned then smiled sweetly to his wonderful surprise.

"Isn't that sweet."

Zim suddenly turned to who was addressing him. It was Mr. Holic overlooking Mary's message.

"Looks like somebody loves you." Mr. Holic said mocking him.

"Yeah, somebody does." Zim retorted a glared at him.

"Okay, then." Mr. Holic commented leaving nothing more to say. Zim stuck the message in his pocket then continued writing notes. After Mr. Holic was finish speaking, his classmates asked Zim why Mr. Holic was bugging him. Zim commented saying it was nothing and his classmates accepted it knowing Mr. Holic overacts to nothing. Then Dib was curious enough to ask.

"So what did Mr. Holic bug you about?" Dib asked.

"Mary stitched 'I love you' in my pocket." Zim smiled.

"Really?" Dib asked surprised.

"Yeah, she is so sweet." Zim beamed looking at his pocket again. Dib thought it was sweet of her and recalled no girl ever doing anything close to that for him. Then he remembered the advice Zim gave him. Dib spotted a fairly quiet girl in the middle of the classroom. She had dark brown straight hair, lightly tan skin and wore glasses. She was reading a popular vampire novel.

"Excuse me," Dib said getting out of his chair. Zim heard him and watch Dib approach the young reader. "Hello," Dib said waving his hand to get her attention. The girl realized he was talking to her. She gazed at him over her book. "You read Day Break. I read Day Break. Perhaps we should get together and have our own private book club?" Dib slyly said leaning on her desk. Zim, hearing his horrible come on, shouted.

"Why, Dib, Why?"

The girl looked truly disgusted by his act.

"Have you no shame?" The girl expressed her disgust then went back to reading. Dib knew she was giving him the cold shoulder and left defeated to his desk.

"Is that seriously how you court? Use cheesy pick up lines to get girls to woo for you?" Zim asked unimpressed.

"I like to see you do better." Dib challenged him.

"Fine," Zim accepted it. "But I'm only doing this to help you."

Zim got up and approached the girl while Dib watched waiting for Zim to be pulverized by the freezer burn girl Dib secretly nicknamed. Zim noticed the book she was reading was the second in the series.

"Excuse me," Zim said getting her attention then pointed. "I was wondering, the book you're reading, is it any good?"

"What do you mean?" The girl asked.

"Well, I was thinking of reading the series but I don't want to waste my time if the second book is not as good as the first. Don't want to set myself up for disappointment." Zim explained.

"Oh, this book is way much better than the first. It continues with the story without lagging from the plot."

"That's good to hear. Uh, what was your name again?"

"It's Leena." The girl chuckled.

"Right, Leena." Zim said. "You convinced me to consider reading Day Break."

"You should, I definitely recommend it if you like romantic novels."

"I love romance novels." Zim said smiling looking into her eyes. The girl blushed.

"Ummm, if you like, I can lend you my first book and maybe we could eat lunch together?" Leena eagerly asked him.

"That's very generous and would consider it but I have a girlfriend and we usually have lunch together."

"You have a girlfriend?" Leena asked shocked.

"Yeah, she's really great."

"Oh," Leena spoke slightly disappointed.

"But thank you for letting me ask about the book. I appreciate your insight."

"Okay, you're welcome." Leena said. Zim walked away from her and on his way to his desk, Dib had his jaw dropped the whole time.

"Since when did you become a smooth operator?" Dib surprisingly asked amazed by his skill.

"I'm not a smooth operator. I'm manipulative. Doubt my seductive skills now, human?"

"No, not anymore."

"Learned anything?" Zim asked.

"Cheesy pick up lines suck?" Dib questioned unsure.

"Cheesy pick up lines suck!" Zim repeated then looked over his notes he took. Zim didn't know why he took up Dib's challenge or why he was so good but he did find Leena to be pretty which surprised him because months ago, he thought they were revolting. Then he thought, was it because of Mary, he found human females to be attractive? He wondered that throughout class.

During second period, Mr. Millmere explained for their quarter exam, they will be quizzed on the rules of basketball and handed his students study sheets. They spent the whole class period reviewing. When it was third period, Zim went to his English class and spotted Mrs. Fetcher talking to his history teacher, Mr. Bernstein. They were laughing among themselves trying to be professional, but he knew what they were doing, flirting. Zim sat at his desk and took out his English book trying to ignore them. When the bell rang, Mr. Bernstein left to get to his class waving good bye to Mrs. Fletcher then she direct her attention to the students who sat in her class.

"Hello students, I know Friday through next week is your quarter exams but I thought since we have all week to review we can do something fun today. In class, I would like you to write a paper, letter or poem of anything or anyone you love. It can be a hobby, a pet, your parents, best friend anything really. Turned in by the end of class, students will receive extra credit. Be creative! I'll be looking forward reading your papers."

Most of her students liked the idea of this assignment while others groaned they had to write. Zim was one of those students. He didn't know what to write which would impress his teacher to give extra credit he needed for he was balancing a C. He placed his hands in his pockets and felt the heart patch stitched in one. He was quickly reminded of her and scent of raspberries lingering on his collar. He whiffed the sweet scent of his beloved and found his inspiration. He wrote throughout the period fueled by the memories he shared with her in the garden and at the pond until he was finally complete with his paper. He thought of it as decent and wanted to read it to her but he wanted the credit too. Zim looked at the clock and thought he would have enough time to copy it but he was wrong. He had three minutes. Zim panicked and quickly copied the poem on a separate piece of paper then when the bell rang. He turned in the original to his teacher. Then she said:

"If you haven't completed your paper, turn it in tomorrow morning. I'll still give extra credit."

"Now you tell me." Zim muttered. He marched into the hallways and to the cafeteria to meet his friends and girlfriend. Zim forgot he was carrying the poem in his hand and stuffed it in his pocket while walking to his table. When he arrived, Brian gave him a peculiar look. He stood up from his seat then walked slowly to him stretching out his arms stiff.

"Brian, eh, what's up with you?" Zim questioned him.

"The game…Give. Me…The…Game…" Brian groaned while Zim intensely listened between pauses. "Or…Eat…Savory…Alien…Brains…"

Zim watched Brian grab his shoulders and widen his mouth. Zim opened his backpack.

"Here, take it." Zim said pushing Brian's face away with the game. Zim let Brian take his B-day gift. Brian smiled upon receiving present.

"Thanks, man." Brian said turning non-zombie.

"You're welcome." Zim said sitting down. "Okay, who gave him the idea of playing pretend zombie? Was it you, Dib?"

"No," Dib whined at Zim accusing him.

"Naw, my idea all along." Brian admitted looking at the back cover.

"Brian, you make an awesome zombie!" Tina complimented his acting.

"Thanks, I would have gone so far to eat him if he didn't stop me." Brian kid.

"I would never allow anyone to consume me except for Mary." Zim said. Dib, Brian, Josh and Tina busted out laughing. Mary slunk in her seat.

"What?" Zim asked truly ignorant. "What's so funny?"

"Zim, what you said sounded so wrong!" Josh spat out. Zim over thought his statement and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't get it. What's so funny about letting Mary consume me?"

After hearing him say it again, his friends laughed louder while Mary became more embarrassed. Zim looked to Mary for help.

"Is consuming humans funny somehow?" Zim asked her.

"Ignore them. Their minds are in a very crude place." Mary advised.

"Oh," Zim said to that then grabbed his lunch. They patiently ate waiting for their friends to stop laughing. Zim kept his eyes on her while eating wanting to share what he wrote for her but remained silent fear his friends would laugh at him again. They finally calmed down. Mary reached into her lunch bag to get her apple but beside it she saw something she didn't pack. She picked up the item. It was a round solid lollipop wrapped in red. She sighed knowing who did this. Tina saw her reaction to candy.

"You don't like candy?" Tina asked.

"No, I do, but I didn't pack it. My Dad must have to persuade me to not feel bad about my punishment." Mary told her.

"You're in trouble?" Tina exclaimed surprised. "How?"

"I stood out too long with Zim on our date. Because I did, I'm grounded all this week." Mary complained. "It's not fair. I was an hour late and he grounds me for a week."

"It probably would have been less if I wasn't there." Zim said feeling guilty for the trouble he caused her. Mary placed her hand on his.

"I'm glad you were." Mary said holding his hand. Zim smiled not ashamed. "My Dad is a major authoritarian when it comes to punishments. He would have grounded me brutal if I was alone after ten anyways."

"Does this mean I can have your lollipop?" Tina asked politely.

"I don't see how but sure you can have it."

"Thanks!" Tina beamed then swiped it off the table. Tina tore the wrapper and began licking the lollipop. She openly licked the lollipop making loud slurping noises in Josh's ear in her efforts to annoy him. It worked.

"Tina, cut it out." Josh complained and wiped off the drops of saliva that hit his face.

"Why, you don't think it's sexy?" Tina taunted licking it.

"No, it's annoying." Josh said but Zim beg to differ for he was fixated on Tina's tongue licking the treat. It strangely aroused him. Something about this female tongue reminded him of Mary's. Memories fresh in his head on how sweet it tasted letting her caress him with her firm delicate tongue. Zim slightly twitched an eye and antenna and felt it rise in his pants. Zim looked down and saw it. To his embarrassment, he let go of Mary's hand and turned away. He crossed his legs and tugged his shirt to cover the bulge. Mary found his withdrawal odd.

"Is something wrong?" Mary asked.

"No, nothing." Zim denied and couldn't explain to his girlfriend.

Zim remain quiet for a while waiting for his boner to go away and eventually, it did and he uncrossed his legs but still he was aroused by Mary. He was obsessed, longing to taste her again. Wanting so much of her privacy and willing to achieve it. Zim was ready to strike.

"Mary," Zim spoke. "Can I talk to you privately?"

"Sure," Mary agreed. Zim stood up with her, put on his backpack and they told their friends good bye. Zim quickly made haste to the hallways holding Mary's hand.

"What's the rush?" Mary managed to ask but he didn't answer. Mary didn't ask and stayed silent until Zim took her to their destination outside between two skool buildings underneath an oak tree. Mary asked him once more. "What is it that you want-"

Zim pressed his lips onto hers. Mary opened her mouth wider matching his and met him half way when they tongued. Zim held her shoulders and gently pressed her on the bark of the oak tree while Mary hugged his neck. After he was satisfied, he grew tired of tonguing but continued kissing. Zim hugged her mouth one last time before he released her.

"That's not talking." Mary finally said.

"No, but we were communicating through our lips." Zim said lifting her chin with his finger. He pecked her cheek.

"I found your love note."

"You did, what you thought of it?"

"I found it very adorable. So cute. I couldn't stop thinking of it. I've had you on my mind all day."

"Oh?"

"Like earlier in class, you inspired me." Zim said sticking his hand in his pocket. He pulled out the crumbled piece of paper that is his love letter then a stranger's hand grabbed his shoulder along with Mary's to pull them apart.

"Okay," An older, larger woman said to them. "That's enough of that don't you think? You disrupting my class."

Zim and Mary turned to see the class giggling and waving at them through the windows of the classroom.

"First lunch is almost over. You should consider going to class. Separate. The boy will go first." The teacher advised. Zim rolled his eyes then handed Mary his letter.

"Come see me after sixth period, okay?" Zim said smacking it in her hands.

"At your locker?" Mary asked.

"Yep, see ya then." Zim said waving good bye and walked into the entrance. Mary looked down at the folded piece of paper Zim put in her hand.

"What's this?" The teacher snatched from Mary. Mary cringed watching her open his message. She thought the woman would start reading but strangely enough her expression was blank. The teacher returned the note to her. "Just get to class."

The teacher went into the building to attend class. Mary, curious by her expression, unfolded the note and saw why she didn't read it. She couldn't. It was written in something Zim could read. He wrote her love letter in Irken.

"How am I supposed to read this?" Mary questioned flipping the paper upside down. The rest of the day, she tried to read Zim's message proven to be unsuccessful for there wasn't a visible pattern in his writing like most languages. By the end of sixth period, she was surely stumped and soon realized why he wanted to see her after class. Mary went straight to Zim's locker and saw him standing awaiting her. Zim spotted her holding the note.

"Ummmm. Hi, Zim."

"I assume you're puzzled why I gave you a note written in Irken?"

"Uh, yes." Mary bluntly said.

"Well, before we were interrupted, I wanted to say you inspired me to write a poem about you for my English assignment. I would have brought you the English version but I had to turn it in and the only way I could have copied it the fastest was Irken. So, if you allow me, I would like to read it to you."

"You wrote a poem for me?" Mary said excited.

"Yes, do you want to hear it?" Zim asked once more. Mary nodded and handed him his paper. Zim straightened the fringes and read his writing.

"To my Love,

Ever since I been here, I always thought I would be alone, unwanted, undesirable for my flaws and the nature of my flaws but you, you convinced me otherwise when you entered my life. Your kindness was a breath of fresh air dusting away my misery. I grew to love your kindness, all your bright and giggling quirks. Gosh, I love the way you smile but there were times you were gloomy. When you became sad, it affected me also and soon as I discovered the reason, my sympathy changed to empathy realizing we shared the same sorrows acquired by helpless loneliness. Yesterday, when we sat by the pond looking up into the dark sky, the stars seem dull compare to you for you were the brightest star I held in my arms. The light of my life. When I looked into your eyes bare, I felt warmth, secure and at peace, brave to endure this Earth and happy to find you live it. I will be bound to you always as I am to Earth."

When Zim stopped reading, he looked upon Mary. She was deeply moved by his letter. She wrapped her arms around him.

"Zim, I love you so much!" Mary exclaimed.

"I love you too." Zim said as she let go. Zim handed her his letter. "Here, you like it. You keep it. Maybe after I pass the exam, I can take the time to teach you more of my culture. How to read, write and talk Irken. Is it something you would be interested?"

"Interested? It would be more than just interesting." Mary said even more excited. "I would love it if you teach me."

"Then I would be your tutor." Zim chuckled.

"Yeah, you would be. Could we start right now?" Mary asked.

"Why, is there something you like to know?"

"Yes, how do you say 'I love you,' in Irken?"

"Hmmm… I would show you but it involves a lot of screaming. Some other time when we're not in skool." Zim suggested. "But you should go. Your Dad must be waiting."

"Oh, right. Thanks for reminding me and thank you for writing me this lovely poem. I'll always treasure it." Mary said then kissed his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow and don't forget to study."

Mary ran off quickly with the note in her hand.

The next day at skool, Zim was a little tired. After work, he spent most of his night reviewing his math work. It felt like his brain has turned into a giant sponge. He really needed to be rung out badly but when he went to first period, he soaked up even more knowledge, the same result in second period memorizing all the possible technical fouls most referees don't call out. His only hope for any relaxation was third period but when he first stepped into class, it proved to be wrong.

"'When I looked into your eyes bare, heh heh, I felt warmth, secure and at peace…'"

Zim froze when he heard this familiar sentence. He turned his head where who it was coming from. It was quoted by a boy who was reading it out loud to his buddies which was posted on the class' wall. His classmate saw him and chuckled.

"Nice poem, Zim." He said sarcastically. Zim pushed the boy aside to see it was his poem posted on the bulletin board along with other poems his classmates wrote.

"How did this get on here?" Zim screamed mortified. His teacher, Mrs. Fletcher, answered his question.

"I put it up. I was so impressed. Zim, I had no idea you were such a great poet."

"You didn't say you were going to put them up."

"I wasn't but decided to since everyone wrote such great poems." His teacher said thrilled.

"But why mine? You obviously thought it would be too personal." Zim scolded her.

"Then why did you turn it in if you didn't want anyone to read it?" Mrs. Fletcher riddled him.

"To get a good grade, that's why." Zim said the slipped his fingers in the top half of his paper.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking it down. This is embarrassing. I don't want to be a joke. It must be destroyed." Zim muttered gravely to the paper.

"Nobody's thinks you're a joke." Mrs. Fletcher denied his accusations but Zim shook his head and pointed to his peers laughing in the back of the classroom.

"They do." Zim said then heard a guy scream.

"Who's the girl, Zim?" He asked. "She has to be mega hot to make you write like that!"

His friends laughed at his somewhat clever comment while Zim found it grotesque talking ill about his sweet little Mary. He began tearing the poem.

"Zim, if you take it. I'll have to give you a zero." Mrs. Fletcher tried to persuade him to keep it up. Zim stopped then turned to his teacher and said.

"I rather take the zero."

Zim tore down his poem, crumpled it between his hands and threw it in the garbage basket. Zim sat down devastated. He covered his face with his hand while the mockery continued.

"What's a matter, Casanova gonna cry?"

"That's enough!" His teacher snapped. Her students stopped laughing. Zim looked up to her. "Shame on you to poke fun at someone who wrote something truly unique. Maybe we should pull up your achievements and criticize it too. Zim, I'm sorry these imbeciles laughed at you and you shouldn't be punished for their behavior. I'm giving you full credit and extra too. As for you five, one more chuckle or joke, you'll be given detention for disrupting class."

Mrs. Fletcher laid down the law. She began her lessons reviewing her students what was on the Exam next Monday uninterrupted. Zim was surprised his teacher stood up for him after the horrible mistake she made but what surprised him even more was the praise he was given from the girls in his class. Few minutes before class ended, three girls talked to him.

"Zim, I thought your poem was very sweet." One girl said.

"Who is it for?" Another asked. "You're girlfriend?"

"Yes, I wrote it for her."

The girls sigh an "awwww," in sync.

"Who is she? Does she go to this skool?"

Zim thought it was okay to leak this information.

"Yes, her name is Mary. She's kind of short with red hair." Zim described her.

"Her, I know her from science last year. She's really nice. Did you get the chance to read her your poem?"

"Yeah, I did. She really liked it." Zim informed her.

"I would like it too if my boyfriend wrote me something that great."

"It's too bad you took it down because of those jerks." One girl sneered to the boys.

"Ignore them," Another advised. "They are jealous because they can't write like you can."

"Oh, okay. Thank you." Zim said. The bell rang and they said good bye to Zim leaving him wondering why the girls who usually ignore Zim talked to him. Then he heard the ring leader of the group call him a sissy.

"I bet this sissy can kick your ass." Zim threatened him. The boy turned around with his friends.

"Just try to." The boy challenged him. Zim stood up out of his chair giving him an intimidating glare. Then the boy remembered who exactly he was dealing with.

"Oh shit, run!" The boy warned his friends then ran out of the classroom. Zim didn't chase them; instead he picked up his backpack and whistled a tune all the way to the cafeteria. Later after lunch, Zim told Mary what happened in class and her views on it. She agreed his teacher should have not posted his poem without his permission or knowledge. Then he told her the girls who thought he was disgusting in his class actually talked to him. Mary wasn't bothered by what he told her. She was too tired to care and he can tell but never asked why. They kissed good bye and went their separate ways to complete the rest of their skool day. After skool however, Zim decided to hang out with Dib when he returned from work. When Zim arrived, he saw Dib was watching T.V. and plopped right next to him. Few minutes into commercials, the theme music of the old 90s show Dib was watching on the classic sitcom channel appeared.

"This is ancient. What's the show again?" Zim asked.

"It's called Buddies, based in New York City when a bunch of old school friends live together in the same apartment complex."

"Oh and they eventually sleep together, right?" Zim recalled to basic plot.

"Pretty much." Dib conferred his statement. "Except the brother and sister. That would be wrong. Very wrong."

"Yeah, I only watched a few episodes and they seem to be with different people or dating each other. What's up with that?"

"Obscene relationships are good for T.V. ratings. Makes good entertainment."

"But it's so unrealistic. No one would actually sleep with their friends and still be friends with their friends. It's outrageous!" Zim expressed his opinion.

"You're right. No logical person would do this but it happens all the time. That's how powerful one's human emotions are. They can overpower logic if the emotion is strong enough." Dib explained his views on it.

"Sure, it's understandable but it isn't that common. I mean, I wouldn't think of dating Tina or Brian's girlfriend, Penny." Zim stated.

"Right; I wouldn't either." Dib agreed.

"Exactly, even though you're single you wouldn't think of dating any of our girlfriends not even Mary." Zim said then suspiciously looked at him.

"Nope." Dib said not batting an eye away from the T.V.

"You seriously wouldn't steal Mary from me would you?" Zim asked being serious.

"No." Dib answered but Zim didn't hear him and continued.

"As final revenge, my best friend steals my girlfriend." Zim acting if his life was a big soap opera. "If you think about it, I will crush you!"

"Zim, listen to me!" Dib shouted. "I would never ever date Mary! I wouldn't even date her if you guys broke up. I have no interest in her."

Zim thought about what he said then spoke.

"Well, why not?" Zim asked. "You don't like her?"

"I like her but not in any special way. To be frankly honest, I find her personality to be bland."

"Bland? What do you mean?"

"I mean I think she's boring." Dib made clear.

"Boring? She's not boring." Zim defended.

"Okay, what's her interests?"

"Uhhhh, she…Volunteers at the orphanage tutoring children." Zim remembered but Dib faked a yawn as his rebuttal.

"Anything else?" Dib continued to yawn. At this point, Zim became frustrated with his attitude.

"Well, How exciting was Gretchen?" Zim went there.

"She played violin for me, we played paintball together and we shared a common interest in the paranormal. Come to think of it, how many common interests do you guys share?"

"Hmmmmm….We like animals." Zim awkwardly smiled.

"Zim, don't lie." Dib stated seeing through his deceptive grin. "I know you hate them."

Zim thought hard what both he and Mary liked.

"I got it!" Zim smiled genuine. "We both like food!"

"You barely eat." Dib said to that.

"Fine, we don't have anything in common but it doesn't matter. I like her and she likes me. Who cares if we don't have common interests."

"Then how are you guys compatible?" Dib asked in wonder.

"I don't know. It just happened." Zim simply said. "One day she was my tutor, the next think I knew, I love her."

"Aha! I know why you like her!" Dib exclaimed. "It's because she's caring. You just love it when she cares for your needs."

"That's not true." Zim denied. "I love her for other reasons."

"Like what?" Dib asked.

"I love the way she smiles." Zim admitted.

"Please, just admit you're still very self-center. You only love her because she offered something you never had. Stability. She governs that stability with her tutoring and dependable nature over looking her coy personality."

"You don't know what you're talking about. I'm not self-center!"

"Do you even know why she loves you. Why she devotes all her attention to care for your needs?"

Zim paused to Dib's question.

"No," Zim realized. "I never asked. I always thought she liked me for me without knowing why."

"Not to be the bowl in your punch bowl, but wow, you don't even know why." Dib laughed.

"I know she likes my eyes and antennas." Zim pointed out his Irken qualities.

"So you're saying she likes you for your looks." Dib restated.

"No, no!" Zim shouted. "She likes me more than my exotic looks! She just has to. She's not shallow!"

"Hey, don't' yell at me." Dib said. "You're the one with the doubts."

"And who's planting them?" Zim asked annoyed at Dib.

"I was confirming my statement I was not interested in Mary."

"Then how we started talking about this?" Zim said perplexed.

"I don't know but we are way off topic."

Zim groaned an annoyed sigh and slumped into the couch. Through watching an episode of Buddies, Zim wondered over Mary's devotion to him, how and why she cared so much for him. He didn't think he treated her greatly or given her special regards other than taking her to the Botanical Gardens. During the beginning of another episode, Zim's phone rang. Zim took out his phone from his front pocket. He saw it was Mary. Zim immediately answered his phone not caring whether Dib was overhearing.

"Hello, Mary." Zim greeted sweetly.

"Hi, Zim. How are you?" Mary asked.

"Good, doing nothing. Just watching T.V. with Dib at his house."

"Oh, am I interrupting?" Mary asked.

"Yea," Dib answered loudly to Mary but Zim pushed him away.

"No, no, you're not. It's not a very good show." Zim assured her.

"Oh."

"So what are you calling for? Is something wrong?" Zim asked concern.

"No, nothing's a matter. I just wanted to talk to you. It felt like we don't spend much time to talk when I became grounded."

"Oh, I see. How is the grounding?"

"It's awful and ridiculous." Mary exclaimed. "My Dad is torturing me with old sex education videos he checked out at the library."

"What?" Zim said shocked.

"Yea, he's lecturing me the sex talk all over again. Teaching me the motivations of the opposite sex, telling me boys only want one thing."

"Pudding?" Zim blankly asked. Dib perked up from the couch hearing the word of delicious chocolaty goodness.

"You have pudding?" Dib asked eagerly.

"I don't have pudding." Zim told Dib.

"Awh man, now I want some." Dib said getting up from the couch. Zim watched him leave to the kitchen then continued his conversation with Mary.

"I'm sorry, Mary. It sucks you have to be taught again. I was given the talk by Prof. Membrane which lasted a few minutes but you having to deal with it all week. It's overkill."

"Tell me about it and it didn't help I fell asleep through part of the film due to the medicine I took. He made me watch it again once he saw me sleeping."

"Medicine?" Zim questioned. "You told me you were fine."

"I am. I started my period and the medicine I take makes me extra sleepy. It doesn't help with my fatigue."

"No wonder you look so groggy earlier." Zim commented.

"You can tell?" Mary asked surprised.

"Yeah, Mary. Usually you're so upbeat but today you weren't much. I thought you were tired. Didn't know you were visiting Aunt Flo many girls like to metaphorically speak if I have the saying correct."

"Partly, Aunt Flo visits you."

"Not me because I don't have a vagina." Zim joked. Zim heard her laughter erupt on the phone. Dib, eating his pudding, glared disgusted at Zim.

"Dude, not cool. I'm eating here." Dib said sticking his spoon into the pudding.

"Oh Zim," Mary sighed recovering from laughter. "You are too funny."

"Do you like me because I'm funny?" Zim asked eagerly.

"Zim, I love you for many reasons and that is one." Mary said. Zim pressed his phone on his chest and expressed his victory to Dib.

"She likes me because I'm funny. Not because of my looks or because she likes taking care of me." Zim mistook the last reason.

"I wonder if some girls like guys only to take care or control them. Can you imagine?" Dib wondered. Zim returned to his conversation with Mary. He heard her yawn.

"Sleepy?" Zim asked.

"Yes, I'm in bed. Thought I talk to you before I sleep." Mary told her reason. Zim looked at the time and saw it was fifteen minutes to nine.

"You're going to bed pretty early."

"So very sleepy." Mary moaned.

"Then you should sleep." Zim said. "Are you resting on your pillow?"

"Uh-huh."

"Good, have wonderful dreams and when you wake, I'll be seeing you at skool. I love you."

"I love you too." Mary yawned.

"Sweet dreams, my love." Zim said then clicked to end the call. Dib was stunned by his final words. He stopped eating and dropped his spoon. Zim saw his spoon dropped. "Uh, Dib, your spoon, it fell on the carpet. Ew. I wouldn't reuse it."

"No wonder she's willing to please you!" Dib said slamming his pudding on the table then pointed at Zim. "You have a sensitive side!"

"Yeah, doesn't everyone?" Zim asked. Dib, lacking Zim's charm, reached his hands on Zim's neck. "Hey, don't choke me!" Zim shouted and returned the sentiment by choking Dib. During the struggle, Zim slipped off the couch making Dib fall banging his knee into the coffee table tipping the cup of pudding on Dib's ear.

"Ewwwww…." Dib let out a disgusting groan.

"Serves you right, Pudding-Dib." Zim said then got up off the floor. Dib stood up and took the cup off his ear then went to the bathroom to wash up leaving Zim to watch yet another episode of Buddies. When Dib returned, Zim let Dib in on the developing plot. They sat mindlessly watching predictable dribble. They kept their eyes on the T.V. screen until Zim's phone rang again. Zim once again took out his phone and saw on his Caller ID it was Mary. Zim clicked to answer.

"Hello Mary, having difficulty sleeping? Don't fret for I, Zim, is here to help you drift to sleep land." Zim spoke with outstanding vigor.

"My daughter is sleeping just fine."

Zim heard his voice and stood up immediately.

"Oh, uh, hello Professor Weylin." Zim suddenly said becoming very nervous.

"Hi, Zim or should I say pain in the ass." Prof. Weylin referred him.

"I don't like being 'pain in the ass'. Just call me Zim." He tried to correct him.

"Don't get cocky with me young man. I want to know and exactly know what you were doing with my little girl last Sunday." Prof. Weylin demanded. Zim, pauses thinking of their deeds, then responded.

"Do you really want to know the gritty details?"

"Oh, you smart mouth son of a bitch! I'm gonna-"

"No wait! Prof. Weylin, we were just kissing." Zim said trying to calm him down. "That's all. We weren't doing something bad."

"You already on second base?" Prof. Weylin snapped shocked how fast their relationship blossomed in a week.

"I don't recall being on a field." Zim said confused.

"Zim, you're an idiot." Prof. Weylin finally said.

"Hey, are you calling to ridicule me or do you have an agenda?"

"A little of both." Prof. Weylin admitted.

"Listen, I'm sorry I had Mary out so late. I know it was irresponsible and stupid to say the least. I should have known she had a curfew and I'm sorry for the inconvenience I caused."

"Are you, now?" Prof. Weylin asked sarcastic.

"Yes and please don't punish her harshly for what I done." Zim begged.

"You must really like my daughter." Prof. Weylin stated.

"I would sacrifice my right arm just to be with her." Zim said.

"What about your life?" Prof. Weylin asked.

"That wouldn't make sense because I'll be dead."

"Fair enough, but you wouldn't cause her any unwanted discomfort towards her, would you?"

"No, I could never harm her."

"Okay Zim, I'll keep your words in consideration but you do anything, I will not think twice not letting you see my daughter. You got that?"

"Yes, I understand." Zim agreed to their deal.

"Good and Zim?"

"Yes, Sir."

"What's a **Dirty Sanchez**?" Prof. Weylin asked him the unfamiliar term. Zim had no idea so he guessed what he thought it might be.

"I don't know. Is it some sort of candy or ice cream bar?" Zim guessed.

"You would think that you sick freak." Prof. Weylin commented then hung up. Zim turned to Dib who heard the whole conversation, asked him what is a "Dirty Sanchez".

"I have no idea." Dib said.

The next morning at Professor Weylin's house….

Prof. Weylin came down out of his room to see his daughter for breakfast. He entered the kitchen and sat at the table where his meal of over easy eggs and toast prepared on his plate. Mary was at the stove making her breakfast.

"Good morning, sweetie." Prof. Weylin greeted her.

"Good morning, Dad." Mary greeted also and placed her fried egg on her plate. She picked up the white porcelain plate and walked to the table.

"How are you feeling? Better?" Prof. Weylin asked.

"Yes, much better since I went to bed early." Mary said and put her plate on the table then heard the toaster pop her bread and went to the counter.

"Glad to hear." Prof. Weylin said then picked up his fork to snarf down his breakfast but before he could, Mary asked him something.

"Dad, what did you talk to Zim about last night?"

Prof. Weylin put down his fork caught by his daughter.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Prof. Weylin acted ignorant. Mary shook her head, then pressed play on the answering machine of the kitchen's hanging phone.

"You have one new message. Beep. Hi, this is Zim. Prof. Weylin, what you said about the Dirty Sanchez. I know what it is and I have to say, gahhh! It has to be the most disgusting out of world twisted thing ever looked up. Who would do this and call it-Ah, I can't even put into words. Saying I'm the sick freak? You're the sick freak for knowing this and peaking my curiosity. You know what, you know what? You scarred me for life. I'm gonna hang up before I, uh, throw up…again. End of message."

After hearing Zim's complaint, Prof. Weylin smiled awkwardly at his daughter who had her arms crossed very displeased.

"Dad, what's a Dirty Sanchez and why is he scarred for life?"

Later at skool…

"So, Zim, about our study session. How about we have it tomorrow night at my house." Mary said brightly.

"Really?" Zim asked surprised.

"Yep, my Dad said it was okay as long as we study. He'll be supervising."

"He's allowing me to study with you while you're grounded?" He asked in disbelief.

"Yep, my Dad feels bad exposing you to smut." Mary explained.

"Did he let you listen to the message?" Zim asked in wonder.

"I heard it before he did."

"How, I left it on his cell phone." Zim said.

"You left it on our house's answering machine." Mary informed him.

"Oh, heh, must have messed up the order when Prof. Membrane gave me his number."

"Funny mishap." Mary admitted and then asked him what a Dirty Sanchez was. Zim didn't want to say but Mary pleaded with Zim since her father tip toed around giving her an answer. Zim sighed and opened the internet browser on his phone, typed it and clicked search. "Don't say I didn't warn you." Zim said handing her his phone to read the definition itself. Mary clicked on it and read it then screamed.

"Ahhh, Dad!"

* * *

Dirty Sanchez: A sex position in which dominant performs anal on his or her partner. After which the partner performs oral to the dominant leaving the fecal matter on the partner's upper lip. Pretty gross, looked up the word to find out what it means after watching an episode of South Park.

* * *

Later that night, Zim was studying for his exam which was in two days. Zim flipped through the chapters he knew and focus on the chapters he needed to review so he could ask Mary any questions he had at tomorrow's study session. The house remained silent until he heard Gir screaming.

"I'M SO MAD!" He screamed. Zim, startled, dropped his book and looked around to see Gir wasn't in his room.

"I'M SO MAD AT YOU!" Gir screamed again. "I'M SO MAD!"

Zim, thinking Gir was angry at Minimoose for some reason, went downstairs expecting to make peace but instead he saw Gir sitting in the middle of the floor headphones on his metal head connected to a portable CD player.

"I'M REALLY MAD AT YOU!" Gir screamed. Zim stared at him and realized he wasn't mad, he was singing. Then he saw Gir scream gibberish and had to stop him.

"Gir!" Zim snapped. Gir stopped singing and looked at him with curiosity.

"Yes?" Gir answered.

"What are you listening to?" Zim asked.

"Octopus Bubblegum!" Gir peeped. "They are my favorite band! Whoo!"

"Is this what you spent your allowance on?" Zim questioned motioning to the CD player, headphones and the two CDs on the floor next to him.

"Yes, they are the best. You wanna hear a song?" Gir offered taking his headphones off and poking it at Zim. Gir smacked him a couple of times with the headphones until he finally agreed.

"Sure," Zim said and stuck the headphones on. Gir stopped the current song and moved to the next one. Gir watched Zim's expression while he listened. Zim's face expressed his confusion while he listens to techno and screaming combinations and something that had to do with killing a cat man. The song lasted a minute. A minute Zim wishes he could take back.

"Do you like it?" Gir asked as he took off the headphones.

"It's defiantly...you." Zim said. "But could you be quiet. I'm studying. If you feel you need to sing. Sing outside, okay?"

"Okay dokee." Gir said then placed the headphones on, played the next song and sang to it as he walked to the back door in the kitchen. "Why are you so gosh darn impatient? Why don't we sit and let the day go?"

Zim watched him leave, shook his head, and then went back upstairs to return to his studies. The next day at skool, Zim greeted Mary and told what time he would be arriving at her house after work. Mary said she'll tell her father and the rest of the skool day, teachers scrambled retelling students what was on the exams if they missed anything.

When Zim was done working his shift, he caught the next bus towards home and passed it to arrive at Mary's neighborhood. He got off prepared with her notes, math book, his notes and calculator. He had everything he needed and not worried for second period's exam because he already memorized the rules to basketball last night. He wanted to prepare for this very important test. The test he promised to pass and gain his Science Technology credit if he scored higher than 91%. All week he had been studying. He read and solved the problems in the math book Mary gave him and reviewed his teacher's notes several times. He felt he was ready but knew it would help if his girlfriend gave him any final tips. This visit and having to be supervised will be proven beneficial to his goal. Zim marched to Mary's house on time and knocked on the door. Prof. Weylin opened it to see Zim.

"Good evening, Sir." Zim replied.

"Hello, Zim." He greeted at his doorway.

"Thank you for having me over and sorry again for last Sunday."

"It's okay." Prof. Weylin smiled waving off his apology. "Don't let it happen again. Come on in."

Prof. Weylin widened the doorway to let Zim inside his home. Zim became suspicious of why Prof. Weylin was being kind, and then he saw why.

"Hi, Zim." Mary greeted him. Zim gawked at her for she was wearing the most hideous sweater he ever saw. It was teal and had green stripes with purple and red diamonds shaped patterns on her front chest. She tried to make it not look so bad by wearing a medium length plum colored skirt and matching scrunchie to tie back her hair but it didn't help.

"Well, Zim. What do you think of the sweater I picked out for her?" Prof. Weylin asked.

"Uhhhhhmmmm. It looks…different." Zim could only describe it.

"Yes, it's indeed different." Prof. Weylin agreed. "Just feel the material."

Prof. Weylin pulled his daughter's arm to Zim so he can feel the sleeve. Zim lightly touched it and felt the fuzz pin into his skin like needles.

"Oh, ho, ho, it's scratchy too." Zim commented withdrawing his hand.

"This shouldn't keep your mind astray." Prof. Weylin said walking into the living room. Zim walked beside her.

"You look pretty." Zim whispered regardless of what she was wearing.

"Thank you." Mary whispered back. Prof. Weylin turned his head hearing the whisper. The two acted like they never said a word. Prof. Weylin sat in his arm chair while Mary and Zim sat on the floor together at the coffee table. Mary already had her books out for the exam she was studying for. Zim brought out his notes and asked her about a few equations he had some trouble comprehending. Mary answered his questions and the two sat silently focusing on their studies while Prof. Weylin read a book. They spent an hour not saying anything studying for their tests. Zim really wanted to at least hold her hand but knew better when Prof. Weylin's here. His opportunity arrived. Someone's phone rang. It was her father's. Prof. Weylin reached into his lab coat to answer the call.

"Hello?" Prof. Weylin said. "Prof. Membrane why are you calling? What, you want me at the lab right now? But I'm a mathematician. It can't be that important. Okay, okay, okay, cool it. I'll be there in thirty."

Prof. Weylin hung up and sighed.

"I have to go. Apparently, Prof. Membrane's experiment worked and needs everyone at the lab." Prof. Weylin said searching in his pockets for his keys. "Who knows how long I'll be gone but I'll try to get home as soon as I can. I expect you guys to be on your best behavior while I'm gone."

"Okay, Dad." Mary promised.

"Sure thing." Zim also agreed. Prof. Weylin left the house. They heard his car start up and drive away. Once he heard the sound fade, Zim turned his attention to Mary who was drawing a graph on college rule paper. Zim sneaked a kiss on Mary's cheek. Feeling his peck, Mary looked at Zim.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

"Because I miss you." Zim confessed.

"But I see you every day." Mary pointed out.

"You may appear daily but I've been missing you emotionally." Zim said then laid his hand on Mary's and squeezed it.

"I-I think we should go back to studying." Mary said turning away to her paper.

"I don't. I've been studying all week. I really wanted this study session but partially agreed to it to be with you." Zim said and saw her blush but she didn't look away from her paper.

"That's nice but I have to study also." Mary said then retraced the graph lines. Zim slyly smiled at her.

"You can drop the act. I know you were pretending to study."

Mary stopped tracing and looked to him surprised he caught on to her.

"I've seen you do the same problem for like a half hour and I know you are a lot smarter than that."

"I didn't mean to deceive you but I thought you would feel comfortable if I studied with you." Mary explained.

"Mary, comfort wasn't your big concern. Admit it. You were pretending to study so you can be next to me. I agreed to study to be with you while you 'studied' to be with me."

Mary looked down flustered after Zim discovered her motives.

"I know your trying to be good for your father but he's gone for now so you have to decide who do you want to be with me? Either way, I will accept your decision." Zim gave her a choice.

"I want…" Mary said then looked into his eyes. Zim gazed into her intensely awaiting her answer. "I really want to be with you, Zim. I want you to hold and kiss me and I don't want to feel guilty for giving into you because I really want to give into your affection."

"Then surrender." Zim said then held her chin. "I really want to conquer your passion and tend to it, my sweet little lamb."

Mary pressed her lips onto Zim's feeling free to express her love. Zim, forgetting how irritating the sweater was, wrapped his arms around her while Mary had her hands grasped on his shirt. Her fingers hooked into him while they kissed. Zim removed his hands and held her head while kissing. The kisses they shared were brief but significant. Zim released her lips to speak.

"If your father was trying to repel me with the sweater, it didn't work because I would still hold you if you were soaking wet."

"Please, don't. I don't want you to get hurt." Mary said then laid her hand on his right cheek. Zim warmly smiled at her. "Zim, may I see your pretty eyes?"

Zim, understanding what she meant, had his doubts to her request.

"I don't know. What if your Dad barges in and sees me?" Zim expressed his worry. Mary thought for a moment then smiled to him. She held his hand and stood up. Zim followed her motion letting her lead him upstairs. Mary opened the door to her room and switched on the lights. She let him enter first. Zim stepped into her room and right away sat upon her bed next to her nightstand. He removed his wig and contacts and placed them on it next to a folded piece of paper. Zim turned to Mary to see she shut the door and was removing her sweater. Zim was stunned watching her lift its collar over her head exposing her naval.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Zim stuttered.

"Getting this darn sweater off me. I feel hot and sweaty." Mary said taking off her sweater. Zim saw white fabric fall covering her belly and soon realized she was wearing a tank top under it. She threw the sweater on her floor then pulled the scrunchie from her hair and let her curls unfurl.

"You're hot. I mean you look hot. I mean, I don't know what I'm saying." Zim stumbled flustered. Mary combed a few untamed curls behind her earlobe, put the scrunchie on her desk then walked towards him. She stood beside him knees, placed her hands on his shoulders and then stepped one leg over him to sit upon his legs. Mary supported her knees on her bed when sitting on him. Mary fixed her skirt and slid closer to him resting her head below his chin. She nuzzled into his neck while he embraced her.

"Zim." Mary uttered his name.

"Yes, Mary?" Zim asked.

"Could you read me your poem again?" Mary requested.

"Sure." Zim accepted her request.

"It's on the table." Mary said. Zim picked up the paper he saw earlier, unfolded and began reading.

"Ever since I've been here, I always thought I would be alone, unwanted, un-"

Zim stopped reading once he sense the touch of Mary's lips kissing his neck. He continued.

"Desirable for my flaws and the nature of my flaws but you, you convinced me otherwise."

Zim paused when Mary held his neck as she moved up it nipping him. Each bite she clenches him between her teeth. Zim tried to read the next line but was distracted.

"I-I don't think I can-"

Mary took the poem out of his hand while kissing and placed it on her lap. Mary held him once more then settles to nipping Zim's neck in one spot tasting his flesh. Zim, not minding her, curled his fingers with hers enjoying the tiny bites. He was in tune with her body feeling her heart pound on his chest. He closed his eyes. Serenity entered his thoughts of her loving him. Zim moaned a deep sigh. Mary opened her eyes to see the color of his neck was darker, suspect Zim was becoming sore and stopped kissing. She stood on her knees to be eye level with him. Zim smiled at her. Mary wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the smile.

"Gosh, I love the way you smile." Zim quoted. Zim and Mary shut their eyes and touched lips. Zim wrapped his arm around her waist and held her head with the other hand. Zim gripped the silky bountiful curls between his fingers while Mary had her hands on his hairless cue ball of a head. Zim pressed off her lips.

"You probably wish I had hair." Zim muttered. Mary looked into Zim's hurt eyes then smiled.

"No, I love bald men with cute little antennas." Mary said then tickled his right one. His antennas perked up to her touch making her giggle. Zim gazed at her with new found desire then wrapped his arms her shoulders and legs, picked her up and dipped her onto the light pink sheets on the foot of her bed. Mary looked up to Zim leaning over her. She touched his chin as he knelt closer. Mary slipped her hand from his chin to hang to his head. He pecked her lips three times then quickly kissed the bare bend where her neck and shoulder meets. Mary flinched when Zim bit her. The pain she felt wasn't so bad, in fact she liked what followed wound treating kisses. Mary tilted her head to where Zim held her palm he pinned to her bed then to the piece of paper containing Zim's love letter. An old memory was coming back to her.

"When I was seven, I had a huge crush on a very popular boy in our class. His name is Peter. I was very shy to express my feelings so one day I wrote him a note expressing I loved him and left it on his desk before our class went to recess. During the very same recess, I heard him read the note to his friends and they both laughed at it including Peter. I was so mad; I went up to him and slapped him in the face."

Mary felt Zim snicker on her neck as he erupted with laughter. Zim had a big kick after hearing her story that he got up and plopped on the bed left to her. As he settled down, he placed his chin on her shoulder and looked to her.

"Well, all I have to say is he missed out on an incredible woman like you."

Mary kissed his forehead awarding his compliment.

"Mary, if you wrote me a confessional note, what would it say?"

Mary looked up to the ceiling composing her response.

"To my dearest Zim,

If I were to journey around the world and across the universe, none would come close in the depth I found in you. Zim, you are the most courageous person I have known. Despite being banished, you chose to live here and make the best of it and try not to let the little things bother you. You put up a brave front but inside, I know it saddens you to be the only one of your kind here but I wouldn't change the situation anything. Do you know why?" Mary asked. Mary saw him shake his head and she continued. "Because I love you. I love how fun and silly you can be. I love how kind you are especially to your robots who make silly mistakes. I love how tough you are to stand up for yourself and others and I love how you treat me and every time I feel sad or out of hope you go out of your way to cheer me up and make me feel better about myself. You give me strength when I feel blue. When I'm around you I can't help to smile because you brighten up my day and make me feel so happy. I'm glad you landed here because now you've came in my life, I can't imagine a day without you."

Mary saw Zim blink a few times not saying a word after hearing her confessional. Then he spoke.

"Not to be creepy but I want to be with you possibly forever if such a thing exists."

"Forever has a nice ring to it. I wish we had more days like these. You and I loafing together without a care." Mary said moving to her side towards Zim, then placed her hand in his cheek.

"Yes, that would be nice." Zim agreed then rolled on his side to be near to her face.

"Just think, if you pass the Quarter Exam, we can spend the whole summer together." Mary said delighted by the idea.

"A whole summer with you." Zim stated then his mind flashed images of her and him bathing in the light of the sun and weather on a open prairie enjoying a picnic while Gir and Minimoose across the grassy field. Zim imagined paradise. He rose up from Mary's shoulder then stepped over her to get off her bed. Mary sat up.

"Where are you going?" Mary asked.

"Home to study." Zim said then picked up his wig and placed it on his head.

"But I thought you told me you were prepared."

"I am but I want to be better prepared because I want that summer together. To get to know your likes and dislikes and maybe share a special hobby."

"Like speaking Irken?" Mary suggested.

"Right." Zim agreed then stuck his contacts on his eyeballs.

"Zim, don't just pass for me. Do it for yourself. I want to see you succeed and if you don't, I know you tried. I won't be disappointed."

"Mary, you won't have to fear disappointment. I will pass that test and you'll be the first to know so I can see that big bright smile of yours."

"Oh Zim," Mary sighed honored.

"Mary." Zim spoke, got on his knees then screamed loudly waving his arms frantically. Mary jumped startled by his screaming.

"What was that for?" Mary shouted.

"That, my dear, is how my people express love." Zim said the kissed her cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Zim ran out of her room, went downstairs to get his stuff and ran out of her house. When he got home, his brain kicked in gear for an all night study cramming. He reviewed and redone most all the chapters and equations he completed this quarter and a few from last quarter just in case Mr. Holic snuck in a few. Exhausted after 1 A.M., he decided he needed sleep to retain the information. That night, his dreams were haunted by equations. He awoke from his alarm clock early and well rested, got up and arrived at skool early to study before class. When he arrived in his calculus class, Dib texted Zim wondering where he was. Imagine Dib's surprise to read he was already at skool.

'Really?' Dib texted. Then Zim texted him back not to bother him because he was studying. Dib texted him a huge whatever. Zim shook his head then studied. Thirty minutes passed and his peers entered the classroom. Dib came in to see Zim at his desk viewing his notes.

"So you were studying?" Dib acted surprised.

"Yes, today is the day and I'm feeling confident. I'm going to ace this!" Zim boasted.

"Don't get too confident." Dib jokily warned. "It could be harder than it seems."

"I have no time to backlash on your negativity. Must study more." Zim grunted.

"Okay," Dib said then spotted the dark green bruise on his neck and poked it. "Nice hickie by the way."

Zim swatted Dib's finger and tried to study but his studying time ended quickly when he heard a huge thump at the front of the classroom. It was Mr. Holic who stacked a tall pile of the Quarter Exam on his desk.

"Books, notes and pens away. It's time for the Quarter Exam." Mr. Holic exclaimed then rolled on a cart a type of gray scanner.

"What's that?" His student asked.

"It's my easy street and your greatest nightmare. It's the test scoring machine. After you fill out and give me your test and answer card, I'll slide it through the machine. It will grade it automatically. Each click is an answer incorrect. To review today's skool schedule, you will be given a half hour break before taking your second period exam. Then you will go home like expected on test days. Half days like always. Any questions?"

His students spoke nothing and Mr. Holic took it as a no.

"You have an hour and a half." Mr. Holic said passing out the tests, answer cards and scraps of scratch paper. The bell rang and on cue he screamed. "You may begin!"

The students, without hesitation, filled out their names on the card and began their tests. Zim smirked glad he studied little of second quarter's chapters for it was on the test. An hour passed and the first student turned in his to Mr. Holic. Mr. Holic looked through his test to see any stray marks and saw none then he slid his answer card through the machine only to hear a few clicks. Mr. Holic read out the answer card.

"Congrads, Kyle. You get a B+. You should have done better."

After Kyle sat down, more and more students came up with their completed versions of the test. Dib eventually came up to get his test graded and got a C+. He moaned and went back to his seat. Zim on the otherhand, took as much time as he needed to make sure all the answers seem correct. With five minutes to spare, Zim got up and turned in his card and test.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. I Don't Know What X Means." His teacher taunted looking through his test sheets. He didn't see a single mark on it. "I have to say you must be the last one to turn in your test so let's see how you did. This is gonna be a laugh."

Zim watched eagerly and nervously as Mr. Holic slid his card through the machine. The machine slid his answer key slowly and when it came out, it beeped a light ting at the end. Mr. Holic stared in shock for what has happened as of Zim.

"Huh?" Mr. Holic responded to the machine's grade then slid the card through it again. The test scorer let out the same ting. Mr. Holic flipped the answer card back and forth then stared at Zim amazed.

"Zim, you got a perfect score."

"You mean I got one hundred percent?" Zim stuttered.

"Yes," Mr. Holic stuttered too.

"YAHooooo!" Zim screamed overcome with incredible joy.

"Way to go, Zim!" Dib got up from his seat to praise and give him a hi-four, three in Zim's case. "You actually did it!"

"I know, I feel so proud of myself!" Zim admitted.

"You should be, Zim." Dib concurred. The bell rang and it was time for break.

"I have to tell Mary." Zim told Dib.

"Go for it. She's gonna be pleased." Dib allowed him to leave before him. Zim searched through the hallway for seemed like forever to find her until he caught a glimpse of her bouncy hair.

"Mary!" Zim screamed. "Mary-Moo-Cow!"

Mary stopped hearing him call out the familiar nickname and turned to see Zim running towards her.

"Mary, I passed! I got one hundred percent!" Zim shouted not holding in his excitement. Mary heard the wonderful news and laughed in joy as Zim scooped her up, swung her around and hugged her.

"Zim, I am so happy for you!" Mary expressed how proud she was of him.

"Thank you so much, Mary. If it wasn't for you, I would have never passed. Thank you for helping me and all your hard work." Zim told her.

"It wasn't all me. You did most of it. You should feel proud."

"I am and now, we can spend the whole summer together like we wanted." Zim whispered looking in her eyes.

"Let us begin our summer." Mary spoke then kissed his lips. Zim and Mary shared a moment while their peers stared baffled by their kissing.

"Ewwwwwwwwww!" Cried out a disgusted girly voice. Zim opened his eyes to see the shriek came from no other than Jessica. Mary turned around to see her. She was standing with two of her friends. Her standing in the middle, of course.

"How can anyone stomach to kiss this gross freak? My gosh, Mary. Your standards must be really low to actually consider this defect kissable. He's not even slightly attractive." Jessica said then laughed. The majority of her friends and students who witness the insult laughed too. Mary looked up to Zim expecting a snappy comeback but when she did, she saw her insults really hurt his pride. Zim lowered his head ashamed. Mary sensed his pain and acted on the girl who caused it by smacking her across her face. Jessica, stunned, held her cheek where she was hit. Zim was stunned too Mary slapped her.

"Shut up!" Mary shrieked. "You don't know how beautiful Zim truly is and I'll be damned if I let you talk down on him."

"You stupid bitch!" Jessica screamed then grabbed Mary's hair. Zim was about to pull Jessica off her until Mary punched Jessica straight in the eye.

"Fight, fight, fight!" The hallways erupted with their peers screaming circling around the three. Jessica stepped back letting go of Mary's hair then grabbed her shoulders trying to wrestle her to the floor. Mary slipped and she fell with Jessica on top of her. Zim wanted to aid her but he got swept away from the crowd circling them. Zim tried to push his way to the middle. Jessica, pinning Mary to the floor with her hands on Mary's arms, dare to say this:

"Hey, I have a retard cousin. Maybe I can give him your number if you're so into deformed men."

Mary, sick of Jessica, ducked her knees under Jessica's chest and kicked her off landing Jessica on her back. Jessica hit her head when she fell. Mary stood up over her as she flinched from the impact.

"I don't want to date your cousin. I want you to shut the fuck up." Mary sneered.

"Nice." Gaz said watching the fight finding new respect for Zim's girl.

"That a girl! Mary!" Tina encouraged standing with Josh and Brian on the other side of the crowd. "Whooo! Whoooo! Yeeeeah!

"Lesson acquired." Josh stated. "Don't mess with Mary."

"I know, right? I'm never forgetting this birthday." Brian chuckled nodding his head. "When my friend took down the super bitch."

Zim saw Mary victorious in her fight with Jessica outside the crowd. He thought she was in trouble but she managed to handle herself. He was very impressed. Dib, who watched Mary beat up Jessica, walked up to Zim. He noticed Dib's presence.

"Zim, you know what I said the other day about Mary." Dib reminded him. "I take it back."

"Okay," Zim quickly replied then squeezed through the crowd when he saw the teachers getting involved. One grabbed Mary's arm while the other helped Jessica up. Zim entered the circle. Those teachers took the two to the office while others disbanded the crowd.

"Get to class. It's all over. Nothing to see here." The teacher addressed them. Everybody followed orders except Zim. One teacher noticed him. "Get to class. The fight is over."

"It may be over but I was witness to how it began," Zim told him.

"Okay, come with me." The teacher said. The authority figure lead Zim to the office. The Vice Principal, Mr. Covolt, talked to him on how the whole mess started. Zim explained everything in great detail favoring Mary.

"Thank you for your cooperation but I need you to go back to class. Can you do this for me?" Mr. Covolt asked him. Zim was shocked he didn't want to speak with him longer.

"Sure," Zim agreed. "I still have another test to take."

"Good. I trust you will." Mr. Covolt said. Zim exit his office and walked by a few rooms. Then he saw Mary sitting in one alone. Zim opened the door to see her. She was surprised to see him instead of her counselor.

"Zim, what are you doing here?" Mary asked.

"I came to testify since I bared witness. Where's Jessica?"

"She was sent to the nurse's office." Mary informed him.

"Ha, ha, ha, you definitely kicked her ass." Zim laughed but Mary wasn't pleased by the incident.

"I did, but now I'm in trouble. My Dad is not going to be happy how I behaved. I never fought anyone before. I don't know what came over me. It happened so fast." Mary said then slumped in her seat sadly for the trouble she caused. Zim took a seat, sat next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to comfort her. Zim spied her face and saw no scratches. She luckily came out of the fight unharmed.

"If it makes you feel better, I thought the way you fought was magnificent. Like a true pro. I didn't think it was possible but I'm more in love with you than I was before. Thank you for defending me."

"I will always defend you." Mary promised.

"And I will fight for you my love pig."

"Love pig?" Mary questioned this one.

"You don't like it?" Zim questioned her disapproval of the pet name.

"No, not really."

"Then never mind it. Call me when you can. I have a feeling you're going to grounded another week. I gotta go to class." Zim said then kissed her cheek. He stood up and wished her farewell. Zim left the office. He had about five minutes to make it to the gym on the other side of the skool. Zim fast walked to make up for lost time. Zim entered the right building but stopped when he saw Prof. Weylin walking in the hallway among Zim's peers who were going to class. Zim slowly walked in the crowd hoping Prof. Weylin wouldn't see him but he did. Zim caught his glance. Prof. Weylin glared at him. Zim avoided his glare and placed his hand on his neck to cover the hickie. After Zim recovered from the awkwardness bumping into Prof. Weylin, he ran to class.

Prof. Weylin was irritated he was called out of work but more disbelieved to find out Mary caused this trouble. Prof. Weylin finally reached the office where he saw an older woman sitting waiting. He checked in with the receptionist and had a seat four chairs away from the elderly woman to be Jessica's grandmother. They entered the conference room respectively trying to avoid any more conflict. Mr. Covolt explained the situation and what has happened while each parent sat with their daughter. He gave out their punishments. Mary, starting Monday, will have four days of detention while Jessica had three. Mr. Covolt thought it would be best to have them go home early and to make up their exams during detention. After the Vice Principal decided their fates, both parent and child left the conference room without saying a word. Prof. Weylin and Mary went into the hallways and left to the skool's parking lot. Prof. Weylin unlocked the car and sat driver's seat while Mary took front passenger. The ride home was silent. Not one uttered a word or met an eye. When they got home, Prof. Weylin unlocked the front door and they went inside.

"You slapped, punched and started a fight with a girl? At skool?" Prof. Weylin exploded.

"She had it coming." Mary muttered her reason.

"Who are you? You are not the daughter I raised! You should know better! That is not how you behave at skool!"

Mary looked away from her father.

"And once more you did it for that boy, Zim! I don't want you seeing him!"

"W-what?" Mary stuttered.

"I think you need to break it off. The boy is making you misbehave and I can't deal with it!"

"Making me? He's not making me do anything. I wanted to do it. I wanted to punch Jessica in the face for the horrible things she done to me and to defend the man I love!" Mary expressed her true reason.

"He's not a man, he's a child and so are you! I don't think your mature enough to handle being in a relationship."

"I was mature enough when you left me alone unsupervised when I was younger. Old enough to do the house chores and to give me your credit card so I can do the grocery shopping while you waited in the car!" Mary expressed a valid point.

"This has nothing to do with anything. The bottom line is you're not mature for this and that's final! I saw that boy's neck! You disobeyed me again! I know misbehaved yesterday which proves my point! You are not old enough and you are not seeing that boy again! Is that clear?" Prof. Weylin shouted seeing if his got through to her. It did. A single tear streamed down her cheek.

"You are very cruel." Mary finally said.

"How am I cruel?"

"Growing up, I always understood why you worked all the time because it was you duty and a lot of people depend on you but with that I've been left alone and never complained. While you were working long hours, I've been waiting for you to come home so maybe we could spend together like a real family. Lately you been working a lot and don't hardly see you at least it was the case until I got in trouble. How come you only want to spend time with me every time I do something bad? It's the only time I ever get any attention from you and when I finally found someone who actually wants to spend time with me, you take him away! Why do you do that? How can you be so mean?" Mary cried.

She couldn't stand looking at him and ran up to her room. Her father watched her run away as he stood wondering what she said was true. Has he really only paid attention to her when she misbehaved? He pondered when was the last time they did something together and thought of nothing recent. He has been working a lot and didn't think it bothered her but after hearing her speak; it did and knew he had to make it right for his daughter and clear up this misunderstanding. Prof. Weylin went up to her room. While knocking on her door, he heard her whimper, and then opened it to see her head buried in her pillow. He sat next to her then laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Mary, listen." Her father said sincerely.

"Go away," Mary muttered through her sob.

"I'm sorry for being so hard on you and you're right. Thinking it over, I do pay attention to when you are in trouble because I want you to stay on the right path and learn from your mistakes through punishments."

"But Zim is not a mistake!" Mary said popping up from her pillow.

"I'm not saying he is." Prof. Weylin assured her.

"You saying he is if you don't want me to see him." Mary said then looked to her feet. "Which isn't fair because of the way I behaved. I made him look bad but he's not. He's the nicest guy I ever met. Please don't judge him harshly for what I done."

"Heh," Prof. Weylin laughed hearing this somewhere before. "Funny you say that because Zim said the exact same thing about your punishment when I talked to him on the phone."

"He did?" Mary said not crying.

"Yes and now we stopped screaming at each other; let's discuss things logically like adults since you say you're mature." Prof. Weylin said. Mary wiped her eyes dry.

"Mary, I'll ask even though I already guessed what happened but why did you hit Jessica?" Prof. Weylin asked.

"Because she was ridiculing Zim. I had to do something."

"By slapping her?" He questioned her intent.

"I will admit. It wasn't my best rebuttal." Mary said. "But the way she insulted him calling him a defect and making fun of the way he looks. It made me so mad."

"Her insults couldn't be that horrible you had to slap her for it." Prof. Weylin tried to condemn her act.

"She asked me how I can stomach to kiss the gross freak, meaning Zim." Mary informed him.

"Her exact words?" He questioned her.

"Her exact words." She repeated.

"Okay," Prof. Weylin said. "Maybe she did need to be slapped but it's still no way to behave."

"I know and you're right. I'm not very proud of what happened." Mary admitted then sighed. "Now I have detention for almost a whole week. That's going to be fun."

"Not fun when your emotions get better of your judgment? Is it?" Prof. Weylin asked her.

"No, not at all." She agreed.

"That's what I was trying to teach you all week." Prof. Weylin said.

"By having me watch old sex ed. videos?" Mary questioned his plan.

"I didn't make the message clear, but I want you to know there will be times where guys are going to try to pressure you to…well, have sex. I just don't want you to become so emotionally attached to any guy, rush into things and make a horrible mistake. You still very young and I don't want any boy to take advantage of you."

"Zim isn't like that, he doesn't even get half the jokes our friends tell at lunch or anything related to sex." Mary informed him.

"But there is going to be a day where he will. I just want you to be prepared for it." Prof. Weylin said stern.

"Okay, Dad. I understand." Mary said then looked up to her father. "So by telling me this, you saying I can still date Zim?"

"I will say I have judged him unfairly. He has apologized for the having you out too late and hasn't done anything bad to you and said he would cut off his own arm to be with you which is a good start if I wanted to torture him by grounding you longer…"

"Dad!" Mary shouted out of annoyance to her father's rambling.

"Yes, I will allow it." Her father finally said. Mary leaped in joy as she hugged her father.

"Thank you, Dad." Mary said. "I'm sorry I was being a pain."

"And I'm sorry for working too hard." Prof. Weylin chuckled hugging his daughter. "I'll try to come home sooner for now on."

"I love you Daddy."

"I love you too, sweetheart." Prof. Weylin said as he let go. "How about we return those videos to the library and get some lunch? We can discuss your punishment later."

"Okay." Mary said while nodding. Prof. Weylin and Mary left her room reaching resolution.


	36. Mary's Dad is still Scary

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 36: Mary's Dad is still Scary

"Hey, is that-"

"Yeah, it's the girl who beat up Jessica last week."

"Hard to believe they're a couple."

"I know, right? I heard she's a grade A student and well, he…he's a punk."

"Nerd-Punk love?"

"Nerd-Punk love."

"I didn't know it existed."

"They're living proof." A girl stated nodding their direction to Zim and Mary passing by the gossiping group of girls. Zim and Mary walked hand in hand through the hallways. Students recognizing the dynamic duo couldn't help not to stare.

"Why are people still staring at us?" Mary said uncomfortable by her peering peers.

"Admiration?" Zim put in his two cents. "You did take the queen off her thrown."

"Yeah but still. It happened like a week ago. Can't they talk about something else?"

"Well, because of shorten half days due to exams, nothing else has been happening." Zim stated a possible reason.

"I guess I'm not used to all this attention." Mary admitted. "I was nobody until I stuck up for you. In the most stand out-ish way."

"Would you take back what happened?"

"No, I don't feel anymore regrets. What happened, happened and today will be the end of it."

"Meaning your last day of detention?" Zim guessed.

"Yep, finally it's Thursday. The last day of my punishment."

"And tomorrow is a full day. I'm sure somebody will be turning heads and everybody will forget the fight in no time." Zim tired to assure her.

"I hope so." Mary agreed and smiled a shy grin. "Yesterday was also the last day of me being grounded which I was wondering if you like to-"

"Yes!" Zim blindly agreed excited to hear this news. "Whatever it is, yes!"

"I was suggesting hanging out at my house." Mary chuckled completing her sentence.

"Yes, that would be great." Zim agreed again.

"Missing me since I've been grounded for two weeks?" Mary asked him.

"A lot, why must you be so troublesome?" Zim asked her.

"I try not to but you know me, I can't help myself." Mary joked lightly of her recent behavioral problems.

"You truly are trouble prone." Zim stated playing along.

"Well, so are you not real human." Mary pointed out.

"It's not easy being green, and nose less and lacking ears and people telling me I'm a freak."

"Who told you you're a freak?" Mary snapped.

"No, nobody told me." Zim surprised by her outburst. "I assume it's what their thinking." Zim said putting his hands on her shoulders to calm her anger. "Okay, nobody said anything. Avoid confrontation. I'd like to spend quality time at least one day this week with you."

"You're right." Mary breathed in then sighed. "I really need to get hold of my anger. Ever since the fight, I have been aggressive lately like yesterday when a girl was standing in front of the bathroom. She was texting, not going in. I waited one minute before I pushed her aside."

"Hey, I figured out what we have in common. We don't like tolerating shit."

"You're keeping track of this why?" Mary questions his statement.

"To prove someone wrong." Zim said.

"Who exactly wrong?" Mary asked who would doubt their compatibility.

"The boy walking up before us right now." Zim said seeing Dib coming to them from the distance. Mary, puzzled by what he meant, stared at Dib who was very agitated. He stopped as soon as he was in talking distance of the two then glared at Mary.

"Could you do me a favor and not recommend any movies relating to aliens for Zim to see? Any, please?" Dib shouted.

"What?" Mary asked confused then smirk to see Dib's cheek covered in a band aid while the other had few scratches. "What happened?"

"I watched E.T." Zim snickered recalling the incident. It was a yesterday afternoon at Membrane's house. Dib sat on the couch while Zim on the floor watching the end of E.T. Dib rolled his eyes when E.T. entered his spaceship and left the kid into outer space. The ending credits pass by. Zim stared at the screen.

"Well, you watched it. Pretty stupid, right?" Dib asked him.

"Are you kidding me? This is the best movie ever!" Zim said in glee to the cinema delight he witness.

"What?" Dib exclaimed. "You liked it?"

"Yes, in fact, I have an idea. Dib, where's your bike?"

"A bike? Don't tell me you to-"

"Yes, yes, let's do it! Where is it?"

"I trashed it when we had that race, remember?"

"Oh yeah…Wait!" Zim shouted then took the door knob and swung it open running outside. Dib followed him where he found Zim picking up a nearby bike on the edge of someone's yard.

"Zim, no, leave it alone. That's the neighbor kid's bike." Dib told him.

"I'm just borrowing it for a minute." Zim said rolling it towards Dib. "Here, peddle."

"What are you going to do?"

"Sit on the handle bars. It doesn't have a basket."

"You can't be serious."

"What's a matter? You don't believe in alien magic? What if I can make us fly. Wouldn't it be cool?"

"It sounds really stupid and I'm not peddling you around sitting on a bike like that!" Dib said seeing Zim's ass balancing between the handle bars.

"Please, please! I won't leave you alone until you say yes."

"I don't care. You're always annoying. I'm used to your nagging voice."

"I'll give you money." He emphasized. Dib thought of it in a second then sat on the bike seat.

"Zim, do you believe in alien magic?" Dib grinned to Zim.

"Yes I do, let's do this!" Zim said sitting on the handle frame. Dib began peddling from the sidewalk to the street while Zim held on to the handles. Few neighbors saw the boys passing by and laughed. Zim closed his eyes and tired so hard thinking of flying.

"It's not working." Dib commented. "We look stupid and you're very heavy."

"Maybe we need a ramp, there's one!" Zim shouted pointing to the kids' skate board wooden ramp. "Towards victory!"

Dib peddled harder and faster while Zim focus all his might to fly but when they hit the ramp, Zim face planted into the concrete. Dib bounced off the bike on top of him and the bike fell on them like a disaster sandwich. They groaned in pain. The neighborhood skateboarding punks laughed at them.

"Zim, your alien magic is shit!" Dib screamed pushing the bike off him to stand. "Stop watching and believing alien movies. They don't apply to you."

Dib rolled the bike on the concrete road trying to ignore the children's laughter leaving Zim to think about his deed.

Mary cracked up after hearing their story. Dib glared at her once more.

"You wouldn't be laughing if he made you do it." Dib whined.

"Sounded like he bribed you. I think there was a part of you who believed in alien magic." Mary teased poking him in the right forearm. Dib swatted her finger then stepped back.

"Whatever, please for your safety, my own and everyone around him, do not let him see a sci-fi alien themed movie!" Dib warned then limped away. "Oww…still hurts…"

Zim distraught Dib advice her against letting him view those types of movies. Mary saw he was affected then beamed.

"Don't worry." Mary said patting his shoulder. "We can watch alien movies at my house."

"Really, today after skool?" Zim asked her.

"Sure, why not?" Mary agreed seeing no harm.

"Alright! I'll see you after detention. I'll be waiting." Zim said and the bell rang to begin their classes of the remaining day in Third Quarter. Classes slipped quickly through this half day. Each was twenty minutes and when it hit noon, the last bell rang and school was over for everyone except the selected few in detention. Zim, however, was the exception of the case. He sat on the steps of the high skool waiting for Mary to be released. He had the day off from work too and was excited to be with Mary alone atlas. Zim's patience was the small price he would willingly pay to spend his afternoon with her at her house. While waiting, Zim thought of her and what occurred after he passed the quarter exam. To what he told his counselor last Monday afternoon before leaving skool and to how, in the first time in his life, made Ms. Bitters smile when she heard the news with his counselor. It scared him so he thought of other things to occupy his mind. He glanced at his watch strapped to his wrist, and then felt a slight tap on his left shoulder. He looked up to see it was Mary. She smiled at him. Zim glanced back at the watch then at her again. It was already 1:30 PM.

"That was quick!" Zim smirked and stood up to meet her height then overshadow it. They marched down the steps onto the concrete pavement.

"Yeah, detention isn't too bad." Mary said. "But I'm glad it's over. I could be doing more with my time other than sit there 'thinking what I did.'"

"Like what?" Zim asked putting his hand on her outer hip then hugged it.

"Being with you." Mary whispered then kissed his cheek. Looking over Mary's head after she kissed him, Zim saw the bus a couple blocks away they needed to catch. Warning her, Zim grabbed her hand and ran to the stop crossing the street. The driver saw the teenagers and halted to let them board. Zim flashed his bus card while Mary was digging though her backpack for hers.

"I know it's in here somewhere." Mary muttered checking the pockets. At this point, the driver and passengers were becoming agitated shooting nasty glares at her. Zim sensed their negativity and paid her fair by slipping a dollar in the electric collection box.

"I got this." Zim told her and grabbed her hand to find their seats. Zim lead her to the middle row. They sat to the left seats.

"Sorry I couldn't find my bus pass. I'll pay you back, I promise." Mary tried to assure him but he shook his head.

"It's not necessary. It's only a dollar. Don't sweat it." Zim let go. He was delighted Mary invited him to watch movies at her house then remembered the unpredictable man who could be home. He turned to Mary to address his question. "Is your father home?" Mary shook her head.

"He won't be until later." She informed him.

"Oh, good." Zim sigh a relief.

"You don't like my father much, do you?" Mary asked.

"It's not of matter if I like him, it's whether he likes me and I don't think he likes me much." Zim stated supported by the unkind attitude of Prof. Weylin he endured during the unexpected phone call.

"He thinks you're okay." Mary told him what her father said.

"Just okay?" Zim asked not impressed.

"If he didn't, I wouldn't be dating you."

"Okay is fine." Zim accepted Prof. Weylin's perception of him which led him to another question. "Does he know I'm…Irken?"

"No, he has no clue your from another planet. He believes you're deformed. It's your choice to tell him. I'm not going to reveal your secret. It is not my place to tell." Mary addressed her views. Zim nodded and agreed it would be wise for him to tell Prof. Weylin than her trying to convince him of being an Extra-Terrestrial. Zim knew he could trust Mary but her father at this point, who is at borderline hating him, could not reveal his secret to him, not yet. Their conversation went silent without much to say until they arrived at her neighborhood. They boarded off and walked in the cul-de-sac. The neighborhood sounded peaceful with the occasional dog barking as they passed by a fenced yard. Mary gracefully stepped on the sidewalk comfortable knowing her way home. Zim wondered what kind of alien movies she had they could watch. When they reached their destination, Mary skipped into her front yard and up the steps to unlock the front door. They both went inside her warm home. Mary switched on the living room lights as they entered. On the end table next to the white, soft cushioned couch, Zim spotted a standing picture frame. Zim picked it up and smiled. Mary, after putting her jacket in the closet, peered over Zim to see what picture he's looking at. It was a class picture of her when she was ten. She wore a white summer dress with a yellow head band sitting partly middle in the row of five by four students in her class. Zim turned to see Mary wearing possibly one of her favorite colors, yellow. The displayed color of her blouse. He stood the frame on the table.

"You look so adorable. If you went to my elementary skool, I would have had a huge crush on you." Zim stated a probability. Mary giggled at his comment then smiled.

"No, you wouldn't. You would try to steal my organs." Mary playfully teased him wiggling her fingers.

"I would steal your liver." Zim chuckled.

"Why my liver?"

"Because it symbolizes love. The liver is the organ most associated with love, right?"

"It's the heart, Zim."

"Oh, no duh. I knew that." Zim recalled the obvious association. "So what kind of alien movies you have?"

"None, but I could find some on demand with our cable selection." Mary picked up the silver covered remote from the coffee table. Mary switched to the movie selection, and then clicked on sci-fi genre. It didn't take long to pick out a movie. They chose the first one on the list. Aliens III. Zim was familiar of the Alien movies and plot previous to the first two during the research he compiled to see how humans viewed outer space monsters in media entertainment. Zim sat to the left of her couch towards the kitchen and Mary sat next to him. Mary glanced to Zim watching his chest rise and fall as he breathed.

"Zim, do you have a heart?" Mary asked. Zim presented a confused expression on his face.

"Did I do something bad?" He asked.

"No, the organ heart."

"Ohhhh." Zim exclaimed figuring out what she meant. "No, I don't but I have a squeedlyspooch."

"Squeaky spooch?"

"Squeedlyspooch." Corrected her.

"Squeedy spooch."

"Almost got it, squeedlyspooch. To describe it, in human standards, it's like the heart, liver, stomach, intestines, lungs combined in one organ. It does beat like a heart."

"It does?"

"Yep, would you like to hear?" Zim offered. Mary moved closer then leaned and pressed her ear on his chest. Mary couldn't hear a single beat.

"You have the right idea just a little lower." Zim said. Mary slid to his abdomen. She waited until she heard a little thump.

"Can you hear me, now?" Zim asked.

"It's faint." Mary told him listening to the slow thumping of his squeedilyspooch.

"So what should we do?" He asked.

"Press play and we can start watching the movie." Mary said. Zim picked up the remote on the other side of her, pressed the arrow button then placed it on the arm chair next left to him. He laid his hands on Mary's hip and shoulder hugging her letting her lay on him. They watch the plot develop as Ripley, the heroine of the tale, crash landed on a prison planet. The warden and doctor, who found her, told her she was the only survivor in the crash and then gave her a tour of the prison she would be staying until they get a ship to transport her home.

"This movie is kind of boring. When is the alien going to appear?" Zim questioned the plot.

"Soon, maybe?" Mary said unsure. They remained silent watching it play out. Eventually the alien appeared several times hunting down the inmates. Everyone panicked and Ripley gets them to team up to fight back to kill it. In reality, the door knob wiggled open to reveal Prof. Weylin enter the house. Zim saw him. Prof. Weylin saw Zim had his daughter in a pillowed embrace, cozy in his arms. Her head lazy on his chest. Mary was unaware of her father's presence. He stomped to them.

"Mary, sit up properly!" Prof. Weylin demanded. Startled, Mary sat up then saw it was her father.

"Oh, hi Dad." Mary shuttered still surprised.

"Hi, Prof. Weylin." Zim greeted him.

"Hi, Zim." He flatly replied. "What are you guys doing?" Prof. Weylin became suspicious of their carefree attitude.

"Nothing, just watching a movie." Mary told him. Prof. Weylin turned around to the T.V to see a scene where the alien was running towards the armed captives.

"Uh-huh, well, I'll be in my lab. I may be home early but I have much to do. No funny business. You got that?" Prof. Weylin warned them. They nodded. "Okay, if you need me, Mary, you know where to find me."

Prof. Weylin entered the basement under the staircase. As soon as Mary heard her father's steps become faint, she laid on Zim again. A few minutes into the movie, Mary was a little hungry, lifted herself up and off the couch.

"Where you going?" Zim asked.

"To make popcorn."

"But I don't need popcorn."

"I would like some." Mary stated not caring much for what he doesn't want then turned away. Zim quickly grabbed her hand. Mary looked down at him puzzled.

"What if it gets really scary or creepy?" Zim whined. Mary smiled, gripped firm of his hand then leaned to him. She became eye level with him. Mary stared pass his synthetic eyes and smiled once more. She whispered.

"You can always pause, silly."

Zim expected her to kiss him when she came closer but instead, she rubbed her nose side to side where his is nonexistent. Zim blushed and backed away.

"What was that?" Zim questioned caught off guard by her weird affection.

"That was a Eskimo kiss." Mary chirped.

"An Eskimo kiss?" Zim questioned.

"Usually it's expressed by rubbing noses." Mary said. Zim looked down absent of nose.

"I wish I had a nose so I can express it." Zim said disappointed.

"Why do you do that?" Mary noticing a trend. "Put yourself down because of your appearance."

"Because I don't look like you." Zim openly stated. Mary paused the movie pressing one button on the remote to discuss the subject. Mary knelt to Zim hold his hand in both of hers.

"Why do you want to look like me?" Mary asked being sincere.

"Can I be honest with you?" Zim asked.

"You can always be honest with me." Mary assured him.

"Sometimes, I wish I could be human." Zim finally admitted. "So I can live a normal life without people staring at me, questioning how I look and not wear a disguise."

"Do you know what I see?" Mary asked him. Zim shook his head. "I see you, Zim. Whether you're wearing a disguise or not and it doesn't matter to me. People may stop and stare and try to bring you down but they don't know you and our friends, Dib and your family, Gir and Minimoose. They don't care what you look like and they love you. I love you. Zim, you're perfect just the way you are."

He was emotionally drawn by what she thought of him. Perfect. He always called moron, idiot, freak even a creep but never perfect. He didn't know how to respond but his answer was clear when he pressed his lips on hers. Zim found tremendous comfort the woman he loves thought he was perfect. When he released her, Mary smiled knowing he wasn't in gloom.

"Still want to be human?" She asks.

"No," Zim responded.

"Glad you changed your mind." Mary said standing up then patted his shoulder. "I'll be back with popcorn, okay?"

She stood straight then walked into her kitchen. She opened the pantry, grabbed a bag of popcorn, removed the clear wrapper and stuck it in the microwave. She heard the little kernels hit the bag. Her boyfriend snuck into the kitchen and embraced her wrapping his arms around her waist. Zim placed his chin on her shoulder then whispers.

"How about we skip the movie and make a scene of our own." Zim suggest. "We could call it 'you and I part 2,' it can take place now in this kitchen."

Mary thought it wasn't a good idea to make out when her father was in the house in his lab. The possibilities of getting caught would be high and if so, being caught in the act will not help Zim win her father's approval. Instead, she tries to persuade him another way. She looked up to him.

"Sure but I would love it more if we…we…" Mary dragged to build up suspense.

"We what?" He asked.

"If we finish watching it and snuggle on the couch. I really want to see the ending and it is scaring me too. Maybe when I get too scared you could kiss me to make feel better." Mary said sweetly as she tried to persuade him. He laughed at her attempt.

"Are you being manipulative?" Zim asked.

"I don't know. Is it working?"

"No, but since you asked politely, I will continue watching and be sneaking in some kisses." Zim warned her. Mary heard the popcorn grow silent and open the microwave. She opened the bag, pours the bright yellow popped corn in a blue bowl and carried it in the living room. They sat on the couch, press play to watch the movie. The duo were so intrigued by the developing plot, they forgot to cuddle. During the scene where Ripley comes face to face confronted by the beast, Mary literally at the edge of her seat cushion staring at the screen intensely as the alien leaned closer to her drool dripping from its jaw and inner jaw retracting out of its mouth. Mary was drawn into it when the alien hissed at Ripley. Mary felt a wet substance brush her cheek. It startled her to a shriek. She jumped up to see Zim sticking out his tongue. He laughed hysterically provoked by her startled scream.

"Did you forget the real alien sitting in your living room?" Zim tautly asks. Mary chuckled once she realized it was Zim who licked her.

"Ewwww…Zim!" Mary laughed.

"Who is this Zim? I am not Zim. I'm the horrible disfigured alien haunting you humans' dreams!" Zim boasted hunching over her. "You better watch out, Ripley. I'm coming to get you!"

"Ahhh, no! Don't take my organs scary alien!" Mary cried out giggling.

"I'm not taking them. I want to eat them! Mwa ha hah ha ha!" Zim played along blocking each turn she tried to take around the couch. Mary dodged Zim and ran towards the kitchen. Zim chased her into it. Prof. Weylin, at the time, was jotting on his chalk board his latest formula in his experiment. His concentration was broken when he heard a scream. It sounded like Mary. He dropped everything and ran upstairs. He slammed his door open to see she was in Zim's grasp giggling like a mad man. He saw she wasn't in trouble just Zim tickling her belly.

"You can't get away from me!" Zim laughed excited he caught her.

"Mary Louise!" Prof. Weylin snapped. Mary and Zim stopped laughing once they heard his shout. Zim glanced at the angry man then to Mary.

"Louise?" Zim question what he called her.

"It's my middle name." Mary told him.

"Oh, heh." Zim said to that.

"YOU!" Prof. Weylin pointed to Zim. "Get your hands off my daughter!"

Zim released Mary to his command.

"I thought I told you no funny business." Prof. Weylin recalled his last statement.

"But, we weren't doing anything." Zim replied.

"Do you really think I'm going to believe you?" Prof. Weylin asked him.

"Uhhh..maybe?" Zim bothered answering.

"Think again, moron." Prof. Weylin snappy stated.

"Dad, I'm sorry we were rowdy." Mary said. "It won't happen again."

"There won't be an 'again'. I warned you once. So tell your boyfriend goodbye because he's leaving." Prof. Weylin told her.

"Can we at least finish the movie?" Mary asked half annoyed.

"Nope, you, get out!" Prof. Weylin pointed to him then to the door. Zim looked over to Mary.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." Zim said odd by this circumstance. Zim picked up his jacket he left on the coffee table then turned to her father. "Sir, we were-"

"GO!"

"But-"

"Out the door!"

Zim groaned and stomped out of the front door. He slammed it shut when he left. Mary shot an ugly glare at her father.

"I can't believe you! We weren't doing anything." Mary shouted trying to make him see the error of his overreaction.

"It's too late to convince me otherwise," He stubbornly stated. "He's gone." Prof. Weylin said not ashamed by his actions and sat proudly on his couch. "How about you relax and enjoy the movie with your old man." Mary, very peeved how rude he was to Zim, decided to watch the ending. She promptly sat next to him and played it. At the final scene, when Ripley killed the creature, the company who came to the planet to her aide, tried to persuade her to let them remove the alien queen from her body so they could use it to study and breed more. Instead, she jumped into the lead and died with the alien baby. Mary saw her father shake his head.

"Dad, what do you think of the ending?" She asks curious of his response.

"Remembering the story, I think she did the right thing. If she let the company takes the alien, they would have created more and people would be in danger."

"I think it's sad." Mary said.

"How do you think it's sad?" Her father asked just as curious to her response.

"I think it's sad the only was the aliens are able to metamorphosis is to find a host then they become labeled as parasites and killers because the only living thing they found to eat are humans and have to be destroyed."

"So if you were her, would you have the company take the parasite out of you?" He asks a rhetorical question.

"If I knew it will be taken care of in an endangered species sanctuary, then yes." Mary answered it.

"For God sake's Mary!" Her father exclaimed not liking her answer. "You would side with that creature! Aliens were the ones who took your mother away!"

"She left at her own free will." Mary back talked him.

"How do you know?" Her father screamed standing over her. Mary met the angry glare of her father as they remained silent only hearing the ending credits scroll up the screen. Mary lowered her head, got up and walked upstairs. Her father sat back down, stopped the movie using the remote and rubbed his eyelids exhausted from all the yelling he did today. "A thing like that being taken care of by us, what is she thinking?"

The next day at skool during the beginning of lunch break, Zim was in the hallways looking at the skool bulletin board gathering information.

"I wonder when Spring Break is." Zim pondered trying to find the answer. "I demand break!"

Mary found Zim and came up to him. She was quiet for a moment before she could say hello. Zim felt someone staring and saw it was her.

"Hi, Mary." Zim finally greeted her.

"Hi, Zim. What are you looking at?"

"Nothing." He blankly said. "I'm trying to find out when is Spring Break but all this has is scholarship information, lunch schedules and army propaganda."

"It's two weeks from now." Mary informed him. "The information is in your agenda."

"I don't use that organizer the skool gave me." Zim said. "I gave it to Gir to use as a coloring book. He drew rainbows and dancing cats and cows from fall to spring." He described the pictures Gir showed him.

"Oh, I see."

"Did I get you in trouble again?" Zim asked.

"No, I-We watched the ending of Aliens III and that was it." Mary summed up leaving out details.

"Hmmm…Really?" Zim asked not convinced.

"Yeah, and it was a great ending. Too bad you missed it." Mary spoke quickly in a odd matter.

"Mary, are you okay?" Zim asked concerned by her behavior. "You're acting a little strange."

"No, nothing's wrong." Mary denied avoiding eye contact. "I'm fine."

"Mary," Zim said seeing through her fib. He put his hand on her shoulder. "Please tell me what's troubling you." Mary glanced to the ground unsure then to Zim feeling she was safe to speak.

"There's something I have to do I thought I wouldn't have to. I think it's important, for my father's sake."

"What is it?" He responded.

"There's this room in my house where my mother used as a study which has been neglected for years. I thought maybe my mom would come back to get her stuff. I don't think she'll ever and my Dad is too busy. Well, that's what he tells me whenever I mention it. It's a big mess. I want to tackle it this weekend and clean it so we could use it but so many memories…It's going to take forever to clean." Mary explained then sighed.

"Do you need assistance?" Zim offered.

"You want to help?" Mary asked.

"Sure, I'll come by after work tomorrow to help clean."

"You really want to help?" Mary repeated brightly.

"Don't act so surprised. Of course, I do." Zim said. Mary hugged her arms around him.

"Thank you." Mary exclaimed.

"You're welcome." Zim said hugging her. "I'll be over possibly at two."

"Thank you again!" Mary said uncoil from him.

"It is no problem. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I couldn't help you?" Zim posed a rhetorical question then blushed when he admit. "I'd do anything to see you smile."

"Ah, you are so sweet." Mary chirped then kissed his cheek. She slipped her hand into his as they walked to the cafeteria. "I'm so lucky to have someone as caring as you."

Zim heard her compliment and blush a deeper pink without saying a word. Throughout the day, Zim's worry of seeing Prof. Weylin again crept up on him. He didn't know how to deal with him or even know where to start. The only solution he saw fit was to ask Dib for his opinion to how to get her father to like him. He figure Dib would have experience with this sort of thing considering his reputation and the brain he had in his big head. But he remembered Dib was still mad at him about bike incident and didn't speak to him during lunch. He knew he had to earn his friendship back to get what he needed. After work, Zim stopped by Dib's house to make amends. He knocked on his door. Dib appeared before Zim glaring between the narrow cracks of the doorway. Zim waved a twenty dollar bill in front of Dib's face.

"Here's the money like I said. Please stop being angry." Zim pleaded him. Dib sighed and opened the door.

"Forget about it, Zim. Get in here." Dib finally let go his grudge and forgave him. Zim put the money back in his pocket and smiled as Dib let him enter their household. They settle to sit in the living room like they always do, staring at the T.V. watching Mysterious Mysteries.

"Awww…" Dib moaned disappointed. "I hate this episode." Zim thought it would be the best time than any to get his advice.

"Dib, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, I guess you can ask me anything since nothing's on." Dib said switching off the T.V. "So, what's on your mind?"

"You gone out with many girls, right?"

"Yeah…Was that your question?"

"No, I was wondering, how did you get along with their Dads?"

"Ohhhh…Not getting along with Mary's Dad, huh?" Dib figured out.

"Nu-huh, I try being nice and talk to him, but all he does is call me stupid and yell at me. I really want him to like me considering the situation."

"Because you are an outer space being dating his daughter and he doesn't know that yet." Dib summed up, took a sip from his soda can and placed it on the table.

"Right." Zim confirmed his statement.

"To answer your question, I don't know. I never got along with any girls' father. Not even Gretchen's."

"Really?" Zim questioned slightly disappointed.

"Nope, sorry, don't know what to tell you." Dib gave up.

"Dang," Zim said back to square one. Prof. Membrane walked into the living room seeing his boys.

"Hello Sons, why isn't the T.V. on? Is it broken?"

"No, we're just talking." Dib addressed his father. Prof. Membrane chuckled.

"You kids and your strange fads." He laughed. Zim and Dib exchange awkward glances to whatever Membrane said. The door bell rang. They looked to the door in response to the bell.

"Who could that be at this hour?" Prof. Membrane wondered.

"It must be Xen," Gaz called to her father from the upstairs ledge. "Could you tell him I'll be ready in a minute?"

"Okay Daughter," Prof. Membrane said then cringed under his breath. "Xen…"

Dib and Zim looked to each other at Membrane's odd hatred of Xen and watched him open the front door. Prof. Membrane looked down at the punk kid.

"Ummm…Hi Prof. Membrane, is Gaz ready to go?" Xen nervously asks.

"Ohhh, she'll be ready, over your dead body!" Prof. Membrane yelled and slammed the door in Xen's face. Zim and Dib were bewildered by Prof. Membrane's change of personality. Zim had never seen Prof. Membrane like that. He usually a very relaxed, happy man but something about Xen made him act so sour.

"Dad!" Gaz protested to her father. She marched to the door and opened it to see if Xen was there. He was.

"I'm ready, Xen, let's get outta here." Gaz said walking away.

"Have a fun time, Daughter." Prof. Membrane said waving goodbye to her. Xen looked over his shoulder at Prof. Membrane. He saw his glance and gave Xen a cold glare. Xen quickly turned away and walked Gaz to his car. Prof. Membrane shut the door.

"Dad, why do you hate Xen?" Dib asked him.

"Hmmm." Prof. Membrane hummed. "I don't know. Just the thought of him taking my little girl out fills me with rage! My vulnerable little girl."

"Pst! Ha hah hah ha ha ha!" Both Dib and Zim laughed. Prof. Membrane frowned to their outburst.

"Gaz, vulnerable?" Dib questioned. "When is she vulnerable?"

"Are you speaking of the same Gaz?" Zim laughed. "I would like to meet that Gaz."

"Dad, Gaz will be fine." Dib assured him.

"Well, I don't trust him." Prof. Membrane said brushing off his son's comfort.

"But Dad, Xen is a very nice guy which is surprising Gaz would date a saint. I thought she would be more interested in the grouchy types."

"But if they are grouchy, they whine and she doesn't like whiners." Zim pointed out.

"Or jerks." Dib said.

"Or jerks." Zim repeated.

"Or pests." Dib added.

"Anything like us in that matter." Zim agreed.

"Wait, why are we talking about this?" Dib asked Zim.

"I don't know, but Membrane went back downstairs." Zim told him watching Membrane leave.

"Oh, now I remember, my point is Mary's Dad doesn't personally hate you."

"He doesn't."

"No, he hates the fact you're dating his daughter."

"Ohhhh! Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Give him time to adjust to the idea and let him get to know you better. And if he does hate you, at least you tried." Dib told him.

"I'll try but the man is unpredictable. I should ask Mary if he has unnatural wild mood swings because it's all I know of him. Crazy anger man."

"Maybe he does but be settle when asking." Dib advise him. Zim nodded then got up.

"I will if I get the chance." Zim said. "Thanks for your insight. I have to leave before Gir gets any dangerous ideas."

"Okay, see ya later." Dib said farewell. Zim waved farewell to him and left his house. Dib's advice proved to be helpful once he thought it over. Maybe her Dad needs more time to get to know him better. He doesn't consider himself a bad person, not anymore since banishment changed his ways. If he likes him, great, if not, who cares? All which concerns him was keeping the girl he loves happy.

Zim was enlightened with this knowledge while walking home. When he arrived at his front door, he opens it to see Gir and Minimoose sitting on the living room floor with a jar of pickled peppers.

"Hello guys." Zim greeted them then looked at the jar placed between them. Gir stuck his fingers in it to pick a pepper then ate it. He giggled, gave one to Minimoose to eat and ate it too and then giggled.

"What are you eating?" Zim questioned them curious.

"They're Jalapenos peppers. They're very sweet."Gir told him.

"Sweet, huh?" Zim said peering into the jar of green little peppers. "Let me try one."

Gir stuck his hand in the jar; shook off the extra juice then gave one to him. Zim stared at the pepper then felt the rubbery texture between his fingers. He popped it in his mouth and began chewing. Immediately he felt his mouth burn. He spat out the pepper.

"It burns, it burns!" Zim manage to shriek. "You told me they were sweet!"

"They are sweet. Hot like a grapefruit."

"It's spicy, spicy!" Zim screamed running to the kitchen. Zim grabbed a cup quickly without any delay, turned on the faucet, ran it under water, and then began drinking it. The cool water turned deadly burning his mouth. Zim's mouth fizzed with all kinds of burns. "What madness is this?" He screamed then threw up in sink ridding of the water he swallowed. Gir and Minimoose walked into the kitchen to see their master. He hunched over the sink. Eyes swelled up with tears triggered from the pain. He turned to his robots.

"Those are NOT sweet!" Zim shouted to them then muttered. "Should have known better to trust a robot's taste buds."

"Heh heh, you don't like the peppers." Gir smiled at him. Zim glared at Gir laughing at him then saw a juice box levitate to him. Minimoose gave it to him. Zim grasp the juice box from the air.

"Thank you, Minimoose." Zim said then poked a hole with the straw and drank it. The fruit punch soothed his aching tongue and mouth. "Okay, that's enough excitement. How about we-"

"Oh! Let's play Frisbee!" Gir said then ran in the living room picking up the plastic red disk. He threw to Minimoose and he caught with his powers.

"Not in the house!" Zim screamed then felt his mouth sting again. He covered his mouth reacting to the pain. Gir and Minimoose didn't hear them and continue throwing the frisbee. 'I can't scream. It hurts so much to scream.' Zim thought recognizing his temporary limitation and decided to try reasoning. "Gir, Minimoose." He spoke softly. "I know you're having fun."

"Whhoooo!" Gir shrieked. "Look how far I threw it!"

Minimoose flew up the stairs to catch it.

"But playing Frisbee in the house can be dangerous." Zim spoke but Minimoose threw it to Gir and he tossed it to Minimoose again. "Someone could get-" The fisbee bounced off the side of Zim's head. Minimoose and Gir saw Zim's shocked face when it happened and laughed.

"ENOUGH!" Zim finally screamed. They stopped their laughter and saw Zim's eye twitch to them then they laughed again. "I give up. You want to play Frisbee in the house, fine. Be my guest." Zim said picking up the Frisbee then gave it to Gir. Zim went into the kitchen to fetch more juice boxes to alleviate his burning tongue and marched upstairs to his room. Zim spent the whole night in there trying to ignore the possible madness his robots were doing without his supervision. Eventually he fell asleep and awoke to both Gir and Minimoose sleeping next to him. They must have missed his presence last night. The swelling of his tongue went down and it stings a little compare to yesterday. His mouth didn't hurt either. Zim got out of bed then prepared for the long day ahead.

After a morning of labeling items and stocking them, Zim was finally done working at his job for the day. He caught the next bus and rode it to Mary's neighborhood. During the trip, he wondered how far along Mary was in cleaning the infamous dingy room she needed his assistance. He hoped maybe she would be almost completed since morning passed and it was already entering the stages of a late afternoon. Two O'clock to be precise. Zim tapped at her door. He knocked once more after the first minute then Mary opened it to see him.

"Hello Zim." Mary greeted. "Glad you can make it."

"And what reason would I not?" Zim questioned any excuse to it.

"I guess there would be no reason." Mary answered.

"So, how far are you in cleaning the room?" Zim asked.

"Not far at all. I haven't even started. I kind of slept in." Mary confessed.

"What?" Zim question in disbelief then groaned. "You haven't even started? I envy you having the freedom to sleep in while I had to get up at eight to work. Speaking of which, working in a half supermarket made me hungry. Do you have anything I could eat?"

"I thought you would be hungry so I made you lunch before I started cleaning." Mary informed him.

"Oh," Zim stunned she did prepare him lunch said. "I guess I'll let you off the hook since you did make me lunch. Thank you."

"It's in the kitchen." Mary accepted his gratitude then widens the door. "Come on in." Mary let inside and led him in the kitchen to show him his meal. She prepared a quiche with green peppers and tomatoes with two biscuits to the side. For dessert, fruit salad mixed with strawberries, raspberries, apples and bananas.

"Wow, this looks so good!" Zim cheered then sat at the table. He noticed there was only one plate on the table. He then saw Mary opening a cupboard under the sink. "Don't you want to join me?"

"I already ate but you go right ahead. I have to prepare what we need to clean up." Mary said fetching a few trash bags then walked out of the kitchen. Zim picked up a fork and began eating the fluffy treat. He ate the crust and all in his little ceramic pie pan. Mary came to see Zim eating the fruit salad. She saw he looked like he was really happy enjoying the dessert. Zim saw her then said:

"This fruit salad is so so so good! Regular fruit doesn't taste as sweet. What did you add to make it so tasty?"

"I mixed it with honey as a substitute to whipped cream because you can't eat dairy products. Then I added granola bits for extra texture and flavor."

"Can't you do anything?" Zim questioned impressed by her cooking skills.

"Let's see." Mary pondered. "I…I don't know how to ride a unicycle."

"That? It's pretty easy. Gir taught me how to ride one. He can teach you too if you like." Zim offered a lesson.

"Okay, sure." Mary agreed to an unusual lesson.

"Friendly warning: Wear pants. Don't wear a skirt. It can be drafty."

"Okay." Mary accepted his advice. Mary found the window cleaner and grabbed a roll of paper towels. "Join me upstairs when you're done."

"But I am done." Zim said. Mary looked at his plates and saw he was.

"Wow, already? You must have been hungry." Mary stated.

"Yep, I was. I haven't been that full in a while." Zim said then stood from the chair. "Let's get to it." Mary nodded and asked him to bring up the garbage can. At the table upstairs in the hallway, Mary gathered the other supplies needed like dusters, wash rags and wood polish for the desk. Mary also had a few trash bags for containing the paper to put in the recycling later. Mary and Zim stood before the neglected room. Mary put her hand on the handle. "Are you ready?"

"Should I be surprised?" Zim questioned. Mary didn't answer. She opened the door for Zim to see the disaster dust ball which is the room. Zim spied how much dust it had and amazed him any room could get this dirty. Then to the ground, he saw papers cover each corner of the carpet and the bookcases of alien pictures.

"Sweet jumpin' chili beans!" Zim exclaimed.

"It's pretty bad." Mary stated its condition.

"Pretty bad is an understatement. This is horrible! No wonder you didn't want to clean it!"

"Yeah…" Mary said the flipped on the light switch. The light didn't illuminate. "Oh right, I forgot the light bulb burned out. I'll be back."

Zim watch her leave downstairs. He decided to be adventurous and take foot in the room. He caught scent of the musty smell then wheezed. He saw how high the light fixture was on the ceiling and knew none of them were tall to reach so he searched the room and found a wooden chair. He picked it up from the floor and stood it upright. He felt the chair was unbalanced. He rocked the chair examining its flaw. He saw one leg was broken. "Great…" He groaned dropping it on the floor rendering it useless. Mary returns with the light bulb in her right hand. She was shocked to see he entered the room without her. Zim grabbed another nearby chair and rolled it to the center.

"This seems like the only good chair in here." Zim stated his discovery. "You stand on it to change while I steady it."

Mary agreed to the plan knowing he was strong to maintain her weight and balance on the wobbling office chair. Mary stepped on it and while Zim held it still. She removed the glass light cover then carefully hand it to Zim where he placed it next to a pile of papers. Mary loosens the dead bulb then twist in the new one. Mary inch her way into the seat becoming closer looking up at him. Enchanted by her eyes brightening the darken room, he leaned over and kisses her lips. He touched her lips lightly then spoke.

"What were we doing again?"

"Cleaning this room." She reminded him.

"Oh, right. Let me kiss you few times then we can start."

"Zim…" Mary whined as he kissed her four times on one cheek. Zim bounced off the office chair to let her stand up. Mary threw the old bulb in the garbage can. Zim flipped on the light but to the switch of the light, it made the room look dirtier.

"I can see!" Zim exclaimed. "And I don't like it!"

Mary brought in the garbage can and placed it to the wall then gathered dusters, plastic bags, and paper towels in both arms. When she entered, she saw the broken legged chair lay on the floor then sighed. Zim heard her and noticed she was staring at the chair he dropped.

"It's broken." Zim said.

"I don't think it will ever be fixed." She stated a permanent truth. Zim knelt to it then examined it once more.

"It could be. Maybe if you use wood glue to repair the leg or replace it. It can be reused." Zim told her.

"Sure, someday." Mary nodded.

"Where do you want it?" Zim asks.

"In the garage. We keep most our tools there." Mary said to Zim. Zim picked up the chair and let Mary lead him to her garage. She opened the door for him and Zim laid it next to the tool bench. They walked upstairs back into the study. Zim picked up a plastic bag and spied at the wall of UFO fame. Zim gazed among each picture.

"Do you recognize any of these ships?" Mary wondered.

"No, but I can guess…" Zim said then plucked one picture from the bookcase. "That's not real." He threw it in the garbage bag then plucked another. "That's not real. This is not real. This one is a decorated poop can. This one's a kite." He threw them all in the garbage bag and picked up another. "Hmmm…Could be real. I don't know." Zim not caring stuck in the bag and continued taking down the recyclable printed pictures. "Nice Frisbee." He commented another picture. Mary shrugged her shoulders and picked up UFO related pictures and other material on the floor and threw them away in her plastic bag.

"Oh my gosh!" Mary shouted. Zim suddenly turned to her when she shouted. "The carpet is white. I forgot it's white."

Zim laughed at her observation and tossed away old pictures. When Mary gathered all the papers from the floor, she tied the full bag and set it outside the room. Mary picked up a duster and gave one to him. She pulled back the curtains to open windows giving them and the room circulating air while dusting. She cleared the desk and dusted it then sprayed on wood polish to wipe away the dirt. She looked under the paper rag to see the thick line of dust collected. It didn't surprise her to see so much dust considering it hasn't been clean in years. She threw away the paper towels to get another. She sprayed polish on the drawers and wiped. When he demolished the UFO picture wall, Zim dusted the bookcase. He coughed. "This is unbearable…"

"Try pulling your collar over your mouth so you can avoid coughing." Mary advised him. Zim noticed she done this with her collar pulled over her nose. He copied her move keeping it over his mouth. Mary wiped the CPU computer drive and monitor. "Hey, I wonder if this computer works."

"Only one way to find out." Zim said then poked the start button of the desktop CPU. They waited for a minute before they heard the computer start up. It let out a loud computer generated chime. "The speakers work." Zim pointed out. They saw a single icon button pop up on the computer screen labeled under it, Yoa. Mary scrolled the pointer on the icon and clicked it. When she did, an empty row appeared demanding a password to access it. Mary stared puzzled why her mother set up a password on the family computer.

"Let me guess." Zim spat out. "Is it alien?"

Mary typed in the word and hit enter. The computer confirmed it.

"Your mother is obsessed." He stated then the desktop screen load up and he saw the screen's wallpaper was a creepy man made alien creature. "Too obsessed."

"What was your first hint?"

"It certainly wasn't the fucking hundreds of UFO pics. I had to take off the bookshelf." Zim said. Mary dusted away any remaining particles on screen and smiled.

"If I knew we had a working computer in here, I would have cleaned sooner. I totally forgot there was. I can use this for my school work instead of my Dad's. It would be wonderful if the printer worked too and have ink still." Mary said and ducked under to find the printer in its cubby.

"I don't see why you can't have it." Zim stated. "It's not like she's coming back for it."

"True, this is supposed to be the family computer. I think she has her own." Mary reasoned the possibility.

"But if she does, for whatever reason, want it, let her have the piece of junk and have your Dad buy you a new computer for your birthday or something. When is your birthday exactly?"

"It's May Tenth." Mary said.

"Hmmm…That gives me a few months to get an amazing birthday present." Zim thought out loud.

"Oh, you don't have to get me anything amazing." Mary told him.

"You're right. It has to be extravagate." Zim exclaimed. Mary giggled to his excitement.

"I'll love anything you give me." She smiled.

"Even a dead rat?" Zim exchanged the same smile. Mary's smile quickly faded.

"Please don't give me a dead rat." She said.

"Relax, I was only kidding. Don't worry. I won't." Zim said then thought. 'Note to self: Don't give her anything dead.'

Mary smiled then clicked off the computer and monitor.

"I'll change the password later." She said and picked up the window cleaner and paper towels. She squirts the window glass then wiped it with a paper towel. Zim continue dusting the bookshelves. After Mary wiped the windows, she took down the curtains to be washed. Zim carried the two bags of recycled paper as he followed her to the laundry room. Mary pointed out where they kept their recycling bin and they empty the bags into it in the garage. When they returned, Mary fetched a vacuum cleaner to collect dust in the carpet or whatever settled on it. Zim helped taking the garbage can back to the kitchen and all the other supplies used. Mary turned off the vacuum after her final stroke of the carpet. She unplugged it and put it back in the hall closet. Zim returned and saw the remarkable transformation. It actually was livable. Mary gave Zim a big hug.

"Thanks for your help, Zim." Mary said. "I can't wait to use it as a real study."

"Well, why not right now?" Zim posed a question. Mary grinned, grabbed his hand and they went into the study.

* * *

Outside getting out of his car, Prof. Weylin returns home from a long day of work. Creating and solving equations really took it out of him. He opened the front door and slowly entered his house. He gazed around and didn't see his daughter. He thought she told him she was going to be home all day.

"Mary!" He called out for her.

"Dad!" Mary screamed. "I'm upstairs!"

Prof. Weylin waited for her to come from upstairs to see him but she didn't. He climbed the steps to meet her. Prof. Weylin passed the study then stopped and turned around to see them; Zim and Mary sitting on the floor playing with a deck of cards.

"Now, what is it were playing?" Zim asked again.

"Old Maid." Mary stated.

"Why name a game after an old lady?" He questioned looking at his cards.

"Why not?" Mary asked.

"Hmmmm…I really don't see your point."

"My gosh, Mary!" Prof. Weylin exclaimed viewing the room. The carpet was white and free from paper. The desk and bookshelves were spotless and the windows were clean brightening up the room with the setting sun. "Is this the study?"

"Yeah, doesn't it look great? Zim helped me clean it. We were working on it all day." Mary said then wondered to Zim. "Speaking of which, what time is it?"

Zim pulled out his cell phone from his pocket.

"It's after six." Zim told her.

"Wow, that late?" Mary exclaimed. "It's already dinner time. Zim, would you care to join us?"

"Sure, if it's okay." Zim said then looked up to Prof. Weylin for his permission.

"It's fine." Prof. Weylin flatly allowed.

"Great. Oh no, I forgot the laundry." Mary shouted and stood up. "I'll get dinner ready as soon as I get the curtains in the dryer."

Mary ran downstairs leaving Prof. Weylin and Zim to stare at each other. Zim exchanged an awkward smile to his stare but Prof. Weylin turned away and walked downstairs. Zim frowned to his rude brush off. Zim picked up the cards, stacked neatly and put them in the desk drawer. Zim clicked off the lights as he exits out then went downstairs to the living room. He spotted Prof. Weylin plopped on the couch. Zim, not knowing what to do, took his seat on the arm chair next to him. He didn't say a word. He watched Prof. Weylin turn on the T.V. At the distance, Zim saw Mary in the kitchen taking a pot from below the counter to the stove. Zim was about to stand up, but became distracted from Prof. Weylin's sudden groan. Zim glanced at him to see Prof. Weylin's head face-planted in his hands. Zim pondered at his gloom.

"Is something wrong, Sir?" Zim asked showing some concern to the man who gave him such a hard time.

"No, nothing." Prof. Weylin denied. Zim wanted to take this opportunity to get away but Prof. Weylin continued speaking. "Just, ah... What's up with these movies?"

Zim looked at the title screen on the T.V. set of the choices of movies they have recently watched. All of them were alien themed movies Zim could recognize.

"I can't believe I sat down and watched these crappy movies with her." Prof. Weylin muttered then turned to Zim. "All week she and I watched nothing but alien movies. I try to recommend different ones but Mary refuses to watch any others. She never watches these kinds of movies before. Do you know why she's so interested in alien movies? Did you spark her interest?"

Zim became tense when he asked his final question. He mind raced with many worries.

'Does he know I'm…No he can't. There's no way! Maybe he knows? How? Okay, hold it together. Play innocent. What am I thinking? Deny it!' Zim thought. He gripped his palms then answered him calmly.

"No, no I don't." Zim lied but he knew exactly what she was doing. Mary was trying to get her father adjusted to the existence of him. Prof. Weylin was curious why it took him so long to answer his questions but let it go. He knew the boy was already strange. He looked over to the T.V. set and sighed.

"I should have known it would come to this." Prof. Weylin said and shook his head. "Her curious nature in alien stuff and UFOs, she reminds me so much of her. It was only a matter of time before she becomes just like her mother."

Zim paused not knowing what to say but it enraged him. It enraged him to think Mary could ever be as heartless as the woman who abandoned her. Who would capture foreign creatures and strip them of their freedom. Once more, her father thinking it could be true. He knew it would never happen and had to let him know.

"You're wrong." Zim said. Prof. Weylin turned to him. Prof. Weylin saw the serious anger flaming in his eyes. "She could never be like her. Just you saying such nonsense make me sick to think it."

"Why does it make you sick?" Prof. Weylin asked curious why he looked so angry.

"Because I met her and know of her through what Mary told me. About her how she left her and you to chase some hope dream. I don't think it's fair to compare Mary to her." Zim said then stood up. "She could never be so heartless."

After saying what he had to say, Zim walked by him and enter the kitchen to meet Mary. Prof. Weylin astonished what Zim told him, stared at him while he asks Mary if there was anything he could do to help with dinner.

"Let's see…" Mary muttered thinking what he could do. "You could make the rice. Just be careful when measuring the water. I'll prepare the salad."

Mary handed Zim the box of instant rice. He read the directions and measured the right portions while Mary chopped the lettuce, carrots and cucumbers. Zim combined the two ingredients of water and rice in the pot. Waited for it to boil, put it on simmer then shut the lid on it. Mary thoroughly washed the salad in a colander. After which, she shook the lose water and sat it in a bowl.

"That should be enough." Mary said then went to see how Zim was doing. "How's the rice."

"Ten more minutes it should be ready." Zim informed her.

"Good, let's see how the chicken is doing." Mary said then opened the oven. She spied on the baking chicken, and then poked a meat thermometer in one of the thick slices of chicken. She stared at the temperature reading. "I think it should be done in twenty minutes. With your help, Zim, I was able to prepare the side dishes a little ahead of schedule."

"Glad I could help." Zim said.

"You have been such a big help today." Mary said then smiled. "I'm so grateful."

"Like I said before, I would do anything for you." Zim said looking in her eyes. Mary's cheeks turned crimson. She wanted to kiss him but spotted her father spying on them. Mary snuck a quick peck on the cheek. Zim smiled feeling the swift kiss.

"Thank you." She said then opened the top cupboards. "While we're waiting, let's set up the table."

Zim nodded then grabbed two glasses from the cupboard to put on the table then went back to cupboard to fetch the third cup. Prof. Weylin watched the kids set the table. He saw Mary stand on her toes to reach for the three plates from the very top shelf. Mary grabbed the three plates in her hands then tipped them towards her to get from the pile. On the top of the plates, there was a single small bowl. She dropped them to their spot realizing the bowl was there but because it was set to the edge, the bowl slipped away from the plates. She let out a startled yelp watching the bowl fall over her. Zim saw the coming danger and acted quickly grabbing the bowl in mid air before it hit her. Mary opened her eyes to see he caught the bowl. Mary sighed relieved he avoided her a bonk to the head. Prof. Weylin saw the whole thing and how quick he was to act. Zim put the bowl on the counter.

"That was close." Zim said.

"I'll say." Mary agreed.

"Mary, why did you stack the dishes so high you couldn't reach them?" Zim asked seeing where she placed the plates.

"I usually don't. My father washed the dishes yesterday." Mary told him. Zim shot a glance at Prof. Weylin while he avoided it.

"Next time you should use a stepladder or chair." Zim advise her what she should do if it ever happened again.

"Yeah, I will." Mary accepted his advice. Zim grabbed the plates from the top shelf for her and handed them to her so she could set the table. While she was at the table, Zim moved the plates to the bottom shelf to prevent future accidents. Prof. Weylin was surprised, not because Zim gave him a snotty glare but how devoted he was caring for his daughter. Ten minutes passed and Mary checked on the rice. She scooped a spoonful to taste the texture and called it good. Then set it to the side of the stove top to cool. After cooling, Zim scooped the rice upon the three plates. Mary displayed the bowl of mixed salad and dressing in the middle with tongs. Mary checked on the chicken once more with the thermometer and saw it was ready. She took it out of the oven wearing oven mitts and sat it on the stove. Mary scrapped the hot chicken on a platter then placed a piece chicken on each plate. She sat the platter in the middle next to the salad for anyone who would like another piece. Mary fetched her father to tell him dinner was ready. Prof. Weylin and Mary entered the kitchen to see Zim poured them fruit punch in their glasses and put the jug back in the refrigerator. Zim sat down with the family and they enjoyed the dinner. Mary helped herself to salad while her father didn't want any. Mary scolded her father saying vegetables were good for him and placed some on his plate anyways. Zim chuckled when she disciplined her father. During the meal, much wasn't discussed. Prof. Weylin didn't continue the conversation Zim and he shared in the living room nor didn't Zim bring it up. Mary sat happily enjoying their company. When it was the end of dinner, Zim and Mary exit to the living room. Zim told her he had to go home for his robots' sakes. Mary nodded understanding then hugged him.

"Thanks again for all your help." She said.

"You're very welcome, Mary." Zim said hugging then released. "I'll see you later."

Zim kissed her forehead and made his way to the front down. He opened and shut it behind him. He walked off the front porch and about to cross their lawn until he heard the door crack open. He turned around to see no other than Prof. Weylin at the door.

"Hey Zim, you're alright." Prof. Weylin finally said then quickly shut the door. Zim smiled, turned around and said.

"Better than okay."

Zim whistled walked away from their home pleased.

* * *

Here's another short just for the heck of it.

It's a Wonderful Short: Pathetic Little Details

"Zim," Dib said. "If you can make people sick with your saliva, how come Mary isn't when you guys kiss?"

"Mary tastes small doses of my saliva to build up an immunity so it doesn't affect her." Zim said confident to Dib's question.

"What?" Dib shouted not impressed. "That's not a good reason."

"It's good enough!" Zim screamed.

"You know what!" Dib screamed back. "Right here!" Dib flashed Zim the middle finger. "This is what I think of your logic."

"Go fuck yourself!" Zim screamed offended.

"Thought you never ask!" Dib responded then pause to think of what he said. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Why are we fighting again?"

"I don't know but it is entertaining." Zim admitted.

"To who?" Dib bothered to ask.

"You know." Zim said then elbowed Dib. "Just smile and wave to the readers."

Dib quit complaining joining Zim as they waved to you all.


	37. Poison Thicker than Water

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)

Chapter 37: Poison Thicker than Water

"Wow, what an unexpected shower." Mary said. She turned the knob of Zim's door. She let Zim enter his house first.

"Indeed. I was lucky you always carry an umbrella." Zim said looking at her polka dotted parasol.

"You sure are." Mary agreed then stepped in the doorway. She retracted the parasol and shook of the water before putting it in her book bag. "Are you okay?"

"Ouch." Zim peeped rubbing his left elbow. "A few drops hit my elbow but I'm fine."

"Here." Mary said taking out the ointment Prof. Membrane gave her. She unscrewed the top then showed it to Zim. He recognized the cream and smeared a thin layer on his injury.

"Thanks." Zim said. Mary twists the top on the ointment and put it in her bag.

"Mary, Mary!" A sporadic slightly insane robot shouted. "Is that you?"

Mary turned around and saw Gir running to her.

"Uh-oh. Prepare for trouble." Zim warned her. Gir hugged her legs as part of his greeting. Mary patted the lime green dog disguised robot.

"Hello Gir," Mary said. "How are you doing?"

"Pickles!" Gir chirped.

"Um, okay." Mary said uncertain what it meant then along came Minimoose. He hovered upon her left shoulder. "Hi, Minimoose." Mary said to him. Minimoose squeaked and floated in her arms.

"No fair!" Gir called out. "I wanna hug!"

"Alright, alright." Mary knelt and hugged both strange robots. Zim watched his robots hug Mary for quite awhile. Mary tried to stand up to release but she found it difficult to execute for they loved hugging her. Zim knew he had to step in.

"Okay, that's enough." Zim commanded their halt of the group hug. Minimoose flew out of her arms while Gir gave her a big squeeze then let her go. Atlas, she was finally free. Mary stood up and walked into the living room. Gir caught the amazing lure of Mary's long light pink flowing skirt.

"Ooooo…" Gir moaned the vowels then ran quickly to it. "Preetty…"

Gir grabbed the seam of the skirt. Mary felt caught on something and glanced over her shoulder to see Gir flapping her skirt up and down. Mary's face became very red.

"Gir, what are you doing?" Mary shouted. "Let go!"

Zim heard her complain as he put away his jacket. He turned to see the commotion his robot was causing then gasped seeing Gir playing with her skirt.

"Gir, knock it off!" Zim screamed. As usual Gir didn't listen to him and giggled. He continued flapping her skirt ignoring both their warnings. Zim ran to Gir and raised his hand to swat him away but when he did, Gir saw him and quickly let go before he was hit. Zim's hand did hit something but it wasn't Gir, it was Mary's back end. Mary yelped then scowls at Zim. Zim displayed the most awkward look on his face when he realized he hit her butt. Gir and Minimoose both maniacally chuckled. Zim didn't move a single muscle as Mary glared at him.

"Zim, did you just slap my butt?" Mary exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry, I was trying to-"

"Let go of me, please." Mary cut his explanation short. Zim looked down at his hand still pressed on one of her cheeks. He withdrawn and tried to exchange an innocent smirk but Mary wasn't buying it. Gir screeched his laughter then shouted.

"Zim is funny! He's been doing funny stuff all week like when I gave him a sweet pepper. He spat it out and cried!"

"It wasn't a sweet pepper. It was hot, hot!" Zim claimed but Gir didn't care for his opinion or taste.

"You should have been there, Mary." Gir continued to speak. "We played Frisbee in the house and rolled in the dirt and collected worms and raced them."

"Uh, that's nice." Mary said taking her step upstairs. "I wonder how Slippers is doing." Zim followed upstairs while Gir hopped next to her retelling what he and Minimoose done while she was gone.

"We played board games, watch tons if T.V. and played with toy pony action figures." Gir said.

"Have you been taking good care of Slippers when I was away?" Mary asked the chatter bot.

"Oh yes, Minimoose and me play with Slippers every day. We feed him veggies and all sorts of goodies."

"They really have been taking care of Slippers while I work. Surprising isn't it?" Zim commented.

"I'm sure it isn't that surprising." Mary assumed.

"Really, it is." Zim assured her. They entered into Zim's room. Mary stood before the cage to see her bunny.

"Hello there, my little bunny." Mary greeted Slippers. The rabbit's ears perk up to her voice and bounced to her. Mary opened the cage door and carefully scooped Slippers into her arms. She petted her spotted bunny. Gir quickly lost interest.

"Hey, Minimoose," Gir shouted exiting his room. "Wanna play in the couch cushions?"

Mary dropped her book bag next to his bed and sat upon it petting Slippers. Zim sits down with her. He takes off his wig and contacts going all natural.

"Ah, that feels better." Zim sighed when he unhook the final clip from his antenna and slapped his persona on the dresser. Mary snickered at his comment then stood up and handed him Slippers.

"I have to go the bathroom." Mary said quickly.

"Okay, it's down the hall to the right." Zim told her.

"I know." Mary said while she nod and left his room. Zim let Slippers roam free on the black sheeted bed. Zim notice Mary's books spilled out of her book bag. He picks up each book and put them back in her bag until he comes across a journal notebook, written private on the cover. Zim's curiosity got the best of him and ignores her warning.

"Can't be too private for me to read." Zim implied. He seen it must be new because she only wrote in three pages. He flipped to the first page and read from the beginning.

'_Dear Diary, _

_I guess I should introduce myself. My name is Mary Louise Spenter. I'm sixteen years old. Seventeen in May soon_.'

'She's so cute.' Zim thought while reading then snicker.

'_I live with my Dad. I have a Mom but I don't get along with her, so my Dad is my family. I don't have any siblings but I'm not lonely. I volunteer at the orphanage as a tutor and a baker for bake sales if needed. I have plenty of friends and care deeply for each one but not as much as I love my boyfriend, Zim.'_

'Aw yeah, here comes positive feedback.' Zim thought and continue to read.

'_He is the best boyfriend I could ever ask for. He may not be my first crush but he's my first love. He is so sweet like this morning. We saw a bird egg lay abandoned in the grass. It fallen out of the nest from a tree so Zim climbed it and put the egg back in its nest.'_

"Wow, I must have impressed her to write it in here." Zim said then thought of the incident. It was early this morning before skool. They were walking in the school yard and passed one of the trees on skool premises. Below it, a small blue egg sits on top of tall grass near the tree trunk.

"What's that?" Zim pointed to the strange colored egg.

"It's a robin's egg. Poor thing must have fallen from its nest." Mary said sadly.

"Do you think the mother knows it's here?" Zim asked her.

"I don't believe so and the robin can't pick it up to bring home either." Mary stated. Zim found it sad too.

"There's no question what needs to be done." Zim simply stated. He picked up the tiny blue egg and cupped it in his palm. He looked up to the branches and saw where the nest sat. He reached to the lowest branch, pulled up with his free arm, kicked up on the tree trunk and sat on the sturdy limb. Zim placed the egg in its rightful nest among the sky blue egged siblings. Zim jumps off the branch to meet by Mary's side.

"I'm sure the robin will appreciate it." Mary praised his good deed.

"Heck, I would have." Zim said. Zim return to current reality his sitting in his room and looked out the hallway.

"It sure taking Mary long to use the bathroom." Zim said then he heard the loudly cracking chuckle of Gir.

"Mary, Mary! Look at what Minimoose and I can do!" Gir cried for her attention.

"Good Gir, distract her. Must read me." Zim grunted flipping to the second page.

'_Zim is very sensitive and in touch with his emotions. I remember one time when he accidentally fell asleep on me while tutoring.'_

"I fell asleep on her?" Zim questions shocked.

'_When Minimoose put him to bed, he looked so cute sleeping and his sleep he spoke telling Gir he could eat the video games.'_

"So that's where he got the idea. This diary gets more interesting by the sentence." Zim muttered.

'_He really cares for his robots like they're children. I bet he could be a great father.'_

Zim looked up from the notebook then blushed.

"That's embarrassing." Zim said. "What else she wrote about me."

'_Zim is special not because he's an alien. Did I mention he's an alien? Well, it's not important…'_

'She doesn't care where I came from.' Zim thought then smiled.

'_Because Zim is the most wonderful person I've ever met and I love him with all my heart.'_

Zim smiled a bigger grin reading the final sentence of the entry. Zim spotted a pencil in the rings of the spiral journal and wrote on the page. 'I love you too, Mary.' Then an idea sprung up on him and wrote more in the notebook. After finally getting away from Gir and Minimoose, Mary came to Zim's doorway. She did not like what she seen Zim holding her diary.

"Hey, what are you doing with my diary?" Mary snapped. Zim startled by her shout, looked up at her.

"Hi Mary…Back from the bathroom, I see…" All he can say.

"First you smack my butt then you read my diary. You certainly on a roll breaking all realms of personal space. Both physical and mental." Mary said.

"The butt smacking was on accident. This." Zim pointed to the journal. "Is on purpose."

"Give me back my journal!" Mary screamed and tried to grab it out of his hands.

"Wait, Mary. Let me finish." Zim said still writing on the page dodging her.

"What are you doing? Don't tell me you're making corrections?" She accused such behavior.

"I'm just adding my entry." Zim told her.

"What kind of entry?"

"That, you'll have to read later. Only if you promise me, I'll give you back your diary." Zim said then dotted the last period on the sentence and shut the notebook.

"Fine, whatever." Mary agreed. Zim held it out to her. Mary snatched it out of his hands. Zim knew he screwed up big time.

"I'm sorry. It fell out of your book bag and well, I got curious." Zim revealed his motive.

"Curiosity killed the cat. I know you lived here this long to understand the saying." Mary scolded him.

"I know." Zim groaned expressing remorse. Mary sighed then sat next to him.

"I can't really blame you…" Mary said excusing his curious nature.

"I liked what you wrote about me." Zim said.

"Even the ummm…Father part?"

"I-I suppose…Maybe someday I would consider being a father." Zim admitted then looked to her. He stared deeply into her brown eyes, lost the words he wanted to speak then quickly remember and spoke them. "But not in the near future."

"Right, right." Mary agreed then put her journal away tucked between two books in her book bag. Mary spotted Slippers sitting on Zim's pillow. She picked him up and held him high to see his face. "Who's the cute little bunny? Yes you are, yes you are." She said rubbing her nose on Slippers'. Mary placed Slippers on her lap and scratched his chin. "What a nice little bunny." She petted his ears flat and they popped up. "Who's got floppy ears?" Mary said in a cutesy voice. Zim watched her talk to the rabbit like it was a baby. It annoyed him to no end. "I love you, Slippy Lippy." She squeaked.

"Slippy Lippy?" Zim questioned. "Do you even know what you're saying?"

Mary saw him cross his arms and look away. She sensed he was a little peeved.

"What's a matter? Is someone jealous wealous?"

"No and quit talking like that!" Zim tried to deny his jealousy but Mary can see it written clearly on his face.

"Why?" Mary questioned in a cutesy matter then rubbed under his chin with her index finger. "Is it bugging you?"

"Yes, it is." Zim finally admitted ducking away from her finger.

"Awwwwww…" Mary let out a sympathetic sigh.

"Don't 'awwww' me." Zim said. "Go back to your bunny."

Mary saw Slippers hop off her lap then glanced at her grumpy boyfriend.

"I can't if you feel so crummy." Mary said then placed her hand in his belly and wiggled her fingers in his skin. Zim smirked feeling the tickle.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Zim said breaking his sour mood.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Mary questioned.

"I think your challenging me to a tickle fight!" Zim said then reached to her hips and tickled her sides. Mary laughed then tickled Zim the best she could and achieved victorious getting him laid flat on his bed. "No, no, stop, ah ha hah ha ha! I surrender!" Zim cried through his giggles. Mary leaned over Zim removing her hands from his belly and pinning them on his bed holding herself over him. Zim hunch up to meet her to see she was giggling at him. Zim appreciated her mercy and kissed her lips quickly. After the kiss, Mary hence stopped laughing and blushed. Zim sensed the energy Mary was feeling for he felt it too. He brushed her hair into hand, held her head and kisses her. The kisses between them vary from small pecks to long intimate messaging. While kissing, Zim pulled her close as he lay down on his bed. Mary placed her forearms on his bed, gripping both hands on his shoulders. Mary leaned on top, her knees keeping her balance over him as he held her up. They tongued licking inside their cheeks savoring the taste. When holding her, Zim caressed from her midriff to her hips rubbing them back and forth. Zim slipped lower to touching her rear, rubbing her right flank. Zim realized his error and looked to Mary to see if it upset her but Mary continued expressing her love by kissing his right cheek numerous times.

"Oh, so you like it when I touch your butt now?" Zim stated.

"Hush…" Mary moaned to his complain and licked his neck then bit where she licked him. She nuzzled his neck rubbing her nose under his chin while biting. He closed his eyes again and didn't feel for caressing but held her tight, hugging her on his body. Zim nudged under her cheek to persuade her to kiss his lips. Mary understood his message and pressing on his lips. He kissed her licking her lips entering her mouth with his tongue. Mary's desire peaked as she licked his lips while tonguing. Out of breath, Mary huffed then lifted from him staring into his big magenta eyes. He watched her chest rise up and down as she wheezed. Zim lifted his arm and cupped her left cheek and caressed her lower lip with his thumb.

"Tired? Out of breath?" Zim questioned his beloved. "Lay next to me."

Mary nodded then got off him and lay right between him and the wall. Zim shuffled to his side and kissed Mary's neck then whispered in her ear. "It's my turn to show you the depth of my love." Mary sighed sweetly hugging him as he kissed her neck.

"Ohhhh, Zim…" Mary sighed. "You are so affectionate."

"Only affectionate to you, my dear." Zim said then kissed her. "My love, the woman who takes me as I am and cherish it. I'll do anything to keep you happy. Anything, even…."

"What Zim?" Mary asked curious by his hesitation.

"Nothing." Zim said then kissed her cheek. "Nothing to worry over." Zim stroked through her long curly hair. Mary nuzzled under his chin and grasped his shirt. Suddenly, they heard a faint ring. Zim peaked up familiar to the ring.

"What is it?" Mary asks not sure of the chime.

"It's the door bell." Zim said then sat up. "Our friends must be here. So soon?"

"Well, you did agree to movie night at your house." Mary said sitting up flattening the fringes in her shirt and skirt.

"Yeah, they would arrive early to make movie night a double feature." Zim said and stood up. "I better go greet them."

"Zim, where's Slippers?" Mary asks. Zim gazed over his floor then spotted a fluffy black tail sneak under his bed. "He's under my bed." Zim informed her. Mary slid off his bed and sat on the floor to get Slippers while Zim ran downstairs. When reaching the final step, he stopped in his tracks to see Dib letting in Brian, Josh and Tina. Zim shouted to Dib.

"Dib, I didn't know you were here?"

"I knocked but nobody answered so I let myself in." Dib explained then walked to him. "I went upstairs and saw you guys. You were all over each other. I waited downstairs for you to stop."

"Haven't ever heard of do not enter without consent?" Zim asked a little ticked Dib entered his house without his knowing and once again spying on them.

"I don't see why. We're practically family." Dib nonchalantly brought up as his defense.

"That's no excuse!" Zim shouted. Mary walked downstairs after returning Slippers home. She overheard their conversation while stepping down in the middle of the stairway.

"Don't act so embarrassed. We all know you two are in love." Dib emphasize the word. Their friends chuckled at it too.

"Who gave you permission to enter unannounced?" Zim shot a valid question.

"I always come in unannounced so no rules were established I couldn't." Dib said then stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry. Dib's taunt infuriated Zim. Mary slumped away not wanting to be part of the argument. Instead, she met her friends.

"Hi guys." Mary said.

"Hey Mary." Tina said then glanced at Dib and Zim arguing their points at the same time. Then she saw Gir and Minimoose arrive from the kitchen with a bag of popcorn. They sat in front of the two and watched them argue. "Sorry to start an argument with those guys."

"It's okay, really." Mary said and shook her head. "Anything can set them off."

"Talk about time bombs." Josh stated the obvious.

"Short tempered to be exacted." Brian commented.

"It can't be helped." Mary said has already accepted their conflicting personalities. "So, what have you brought for movie night?"

"I brought 'When the World Goes Boom II'." Tina shrieked showing Mary the movie cover. Mary looked at the cover peculiar to her choice.

"Haven't we watched this before?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, but I thought I bring it for a second screening." Tina said. "Everyone liked it last time."

"Brian, what did you bring?" Josh asked him quickly to avoid his opinion of what Tina brought. Brian removed what he held in his armpit and showed it to Josh. He couldn't believe title and had to read it out loud. "'Crossing to the Moose like Wonder,' you brought a moose documentary? Who brings a documentary to a- Gahhh…Brian, you suck."

"You told us to bring our favorite movie to Zim's house and this happens to be it. I like watching nature documentaries." Brian stood up for his interest.

"But a nature flick to movie night, come on, that's lame." Josh protested.

"Alright hotshot, if you're such a genius, what did you bring?" Brian challenged his choice.

"I brought the 'Ultimate Spy Movie'." Josh gloated his selection.

"Why, I watched it like seven times with you." Tina protested. "I'd rather watch the moose movie." Tina expressed her dislike. Brian smiled to Tina's choice.

"Okay, then it's agreed." Zim said finding resolution to their argument. "If you knock three times and I don't answer, don't come into my house." Dib crossed his arms and said.

"Or I can say I'm sorry and not do it again." Dib suggested wanting not to complicate things.

"Okay, fine. Let's do that." Zim agreed.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Dib said.

"Apology accepted." Zim said then sat on his couch. Dib joined him. Gir saw they weren't fight and decided to bug his friends asking what they brought for him. Minimoose departed from Gir and floated next to Zim. They watched Gir jump up and down annoying his friends. Tina, Josh and Brian were irritated by his peeping but Mary smiled and picked up Gir hugging him in her arms. Gir stopped speaking liking her hug. Zim grew a silly grin seeing Mary and his friends chatting. Somehow it gave him a great satisfaction. Dib notice his silly grin.

"What are you so happy about?" Dib pondered.

"I don't know but I can't help not to." Zim admitted. "I have a great girlfriend and friends who likes me for me, the annoying pest I sometimes am. It feels like my life is…fulfilled."

"'If you want paradise, simply look around and view it.'" Dib quoted. Zim turned to him confused.

"What?" Zim wondered what he meant.

"I don't know, it's a quote from 'Willie Wonka'. A girl handed me this quote while I was on the bus. It reminded me of your tranquil enlightened moment." Dib explained and brought out the slip of posted paper with the quote written on it in blue ink.

"Oh, did you get her phone number?" Zim asked curious if he was successful.

"No." Dib said.

"Fail!" Zim shouted.

"I wasn't interested in getting her number." Dib said insulted. "I told you, I'm not dating any girl for awhile. It's too soon."

"Alright, but you're going to be missing out." Zim tried to warn him.

"Coming from the alien in a relationship for four weeks." Dib pointed out his status.

"Just two more months and I beat your record, Dib-stink!" Zim gloated. Dib didn't say a word. Instead, he laughed and reached into his inner cloak pocket to retrieve a DVD in a clear plastic CD case.

"I am soooo glad I found this." Dib chuckled then smiled to Zim.

"What is it? Does this have something to do with- It does doesn't it? Give it here!" Zim shouted then tried to snatch it out of Dib's hand. Their friends turn around wondering what was happening. They see Zim reaching over Dib to get the DVD while Dib was pushing his head fighting him off.

"What now?" Josh bothered to ask.

"Give me, DVD…" Zim manage to utter as Dib pushed back his cheek countering Zim force.

"Stop pushing." Dib demanded.

"You stop pushing!" Zim shouted.

"Okay," Dib said and let go of him. Zim jolted forward then sat up again but to Dib's demand he ignored and tried to grab it.

"What is it Dib have?" Tina asked wondering why Zim is going to great lengths to get it.

"I don't know but it has to be embarrassing! Embarrassing for me!" Zim shouted his fear.

"It's a little embarrassing for me too." Dib finally said.

"Oh," Zim said, stopped struggling and sat back down. "What is it?"

"Remember when we were on Mysterious Mysteries?" Dib questioned.

"OOOOhhhh! Is this the episode?" Zim pondered. Dib nodded and he didn't feel the need to attack him.

"Hold up, you're saying you guys were on T.V.?" Josh shouted amazed by the possibility.

"Yes, I sent a clip to Mysterious Mysteries when I was ten to try to expose him on television when he was trying to conquer Earth." Dib explained to Josh and the gang. "We both came on the show and at the end, we drove the host temporally insane."

"Aw, man, we have to see this." Josh said then tossed aside his movie on the floor. He sat next to Dib and to follow Tina and Brian. Mary sat next to Zim naturally. Dib got out of his seat and raised the DVD high.

"What you are about to see is pure awesome. Don't try to laugh too hard I repeat, do not laugh too hard for I don't know CPR. Enjoy." Dib said then press open on the DVD player, put in the DVD and pressed play. The Mysterious Mysteries theme played out and the gang stayed quiet watching the screen.

"Are we alone in the universe?" The Mysterious Mysteries host asked his viewers. "Tonight we will show you intriguing video that may answer that vexing question."

The host then displayed a video of Zim and Gir both without disguises. Gir was in a tree playing with an unusual light while Zim was persuading Gir to come down. They were speaking in what was described gibberish.

"Is that your language?" Tina asks Zim.

"Yes, that's how we speak." Zim informed her.

"Yay!" Gir squealed and ran to the T.V. set. "I'm on T.V.!"

"It's an old T.V. show we were on." Zim told him. "Don't you remember?"

Gir peered at the T.V. screen for a second and peeped.

"NO!"

"Well, sit down and watch maybe you'll remember." Zim advised him then the video flipped to show Dib's house with the host standing outside it.

"Thanks to a horribly large headed boy named Dib." The host spoke. "We have a piece in the puzzle that is the search of alien life. I set out to investigate."

"Did he just call you 'horribly large headed'?" Brian asked then smiled.

"Yes, back then, I had a big head. There, I admit it." Dib groaned.

"Your head couldn't be that big." Tina dismissed but they watched the host enter their house and got pwned by Gaz with a bowl of popcorn. They laughed then saw Dib appear. Tina saw his head and laughed. "Well, it least it's normal now."

"Hey, Dib why's your head so big?" Josh teased him.

"I was born with a big head, okay." Dib stated.

"No, you weren't. It shows you with a normal head when you were a baby." Brian pointed.

"It grew bigger." Dib stated peeved by their pestering questions. Then they watched more to see pictures of Zim in the classroom, the cafeteria and on the street dragging Gir.

"How did you take his pictures without him knowing?" Josh asked impressed especially the desk shot.

"Very carefully." Dib spoke.

"More like a sneak, taking unflattering pictures of Zim! Then put them on T.V.!" Zim shouted and glared at Dib.

"Relax, I don't do it anymore." Dib said calming him. Zim turned to the screen to watch Dib getting interviewed by the host.

"Look at him. He's so green." The ten year old Dib spoke sitting with the host.

"Help us clear up what happen that night." The host asked of Dib. The screen blacked out to show Dramatic Reenactment in white letters. Then appeared two actors, one older man dressed as Dib and the Gaz actor was in costume while Dib provided dialogue for the actors to follow.

"No way!" Tina smiled to the bad acting and Gaz's costume. "Why do they need a costume for Gaz. Couldn't the actress dress-up like Gaz?"

"I don't know. I didn't see this part until I got the episode disk after the show." Dib said. "I had no idea they did this."

"We are close now; I feel it in my brain!" Dib actor pronounced. Dib crossed his arms and moaned.

"I would never say that." Dib protested.

"You should for now on." Brian suggested. "It could be your catch phrase."

"No, it will not." Dib disagreed.

"Yes it will, I feel it in my brain!" Josh acted out then hi-four Brian and laughed.

"Shut up and keep watching." Dib advised. They watched how the actress portraying Gaz cling on Dib and how they paused between each word.

"God, that's horrible." Tina said shaking her head and then the screen appeared Zim's costume. They stared at for a second and laughed including Zim.

"Is that a paper bag mask the actor is wearing?" Josh chuckled.

"I don't know, I don't know!" Zim cried out and laughed. "It doesn't look like me."

"Look at poor Gir, he's a cardboard box!" Tina described the actor's costume of Gir.

"Well, they got the color of your skin and eyes right." Mary stated.

"I want that costume." Josh admitted. "Next year, Halloween."

"You would go as Zim?" Zim shrieked.

"Yeah, you can go as me, no wait, you already do that!" Josh said and everyone getting to joke laughed at poor Zim and him having to pretend to be human.

"Ha, ha, very funny." Zim said displeased. They watched the actors struggle to get the video camera out of Actor Dib's hand. Then the Actor Dib pushes Gir out of the set up cardboard tree and pulled the light bulb out and threw in a cardboard bush.

"Did that guy pull the light bulb out of its wiring?" Brian questioned.

"Yeah, he did." Josh said seeing it too. "What the hell."

Then the cardboard bush caught on fire and they doused the fire with water. The screen went black and appeared back in the dark blue conference room with Dib on camera.

"That's quite a claimed." The host spoke. "Are you prepared to defend it?"

"I think my video speaks for itself." Young Dib commented.

"This young man denies your accusation." The host spoke and appeared Zim entering the room sitting next to Dib.

"OHHHHHHhhhhh!" Gir squealed. "IT'S YOU!"

"Things are going to go down!" Josh said really excited.

"Indeed." Zim agreed.

"What's he doing here, he's the alien!" Young Dib questioned.

"Yeah, how did you get on the show?" Tina asked.

"Why would you be on the show?" Brian asked another.

"They called me and asked if I like to appear and naturally I said yes so I can keep my identity a secret and prove Dib wrong." Zim said. "Not if I wanted to go, but have to."

"When will the lies end?" Young Zim emphasized.

"The question is, when where your lies end?" Brian pointed out.

"Awwww…." Mary sighed then hugged his arm. "You look so cute small."

"Well, I guess my next question is," The host spoke directly to Young Zim. "Are you an alien?"

"LIEEESSSS!" Young Zim shrieked. Both Mary and Tina jumped startled how loud he screamed. "THE FLITHY EARTH BOY LIEESSSS! I mean, no."

"Holy crap, Zim!" Josh shouted. "Over dramatic much."

"Now, that is how you answer a question." Zim said proud.

"I thought you were loud now, didn't know you could puncture an ear drum." Brain stated.

"Yes, I'm quite the screamer, still am." Zim said. "I control the pitch of my voice better."

Then the screen blacked out again to appear another Dramatic Reenactment through Zim's view.

"Oh, no…" Josh said smacking his forehead. In this portrayal, it showed Dib being Zim's bully. They were shocked to see the actor play Dib tough and Zim so civilized.

"But I need these moneys to buy nutrients." Actor Zim spoke.

"What?" Tina questioned. "Who wrote this?"

Then they saw Dib record Zim saying he was an alien, push Zim to the ground and shake Gir out of the cardboard tree. The scene panned to Zim crying on the floor.

"Boo Hoo Hoo!" The actor cried.

"Zim, you are full of shit!" Josh shouted in disbelief.

"I know. I had to make Dib look bad to protect myself." Zim said then turned to Dib. "No hard feelings, right?"

"Right!" Dib said then punched him in the arm. Zim yelped and rubbed his arm. "No hard feelings."

The scene ended and screen to Dib and Zim arguing who was right.

"What about that glowing thing? Look at it! That's no human glow." Young Dib claimed and then the host called out Prof. Membrane on the screen as their expert. Membrane said it was either a weather balloon or swamp gas.

"What was that glow, Zim?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, tell us Zim." Josh pleaded.

"Was it part of your experiment?" Tina asked too.

"It was a firefly." Zim finally said. They stared at him wondering if he was joking but he wasn't. "Gir ran out of the house and chased it because he thought it looked pretty. I was trying to get him out of the tree before we were caught out of disguise. I knew somebody was in the bushes spying on us."

Then he glared at Dib. He smiled to his glare. They return to the screen to see their old classmates claiming Dib was crazy and shouldn't listen to him. After their insight, the host asks Dib if he's crazy.

"Of course they say I'm crazy. They always say that about visionaries." Young Dib claimed.

"Well, you give yourself a high title, visionary?" Tina questioned. "Dib, enlighten us."

"Maybe later." Dib pushed aside. They watched Young Dib point out to what Young Zim had in his hand.

"It's my medication." Young Zim claimed and they watched him swallow the gadget.

"Ouch, what that really your medication?" Josh asked.

"No, it was my communicator. I was contacting Gir." Zim said.

"I thought so." Dib stated.

"Did it ever pass out of you?" Brian's curiosity turned disgusting.

"No, it never did." Zim realized. "Now, I'm a little scared."

"I think you're fine." Mary calmed his worry. "You would have had complications if it didn't."

"True, my Squeedlyspooch may have stronger stomach acid than humans." Zim admitted.

Young Dib demanded Mysterious Mysteries to talk to Gaz and have her appear on the show. They manage to do so and portrayed an unflattering Dramatic Reenactment of Zim and Dib being stupid. They laughed how stupid the actors act. Zim and Dib slouched in their seats embarrassed but not surprised how Gaz sees them. After the Reenactment, the host was about to wrap up the show until they stated there was a surprise witness. The screen displayed Gir walking on the scene and sat down next to Gaz.

"Ohhhhhh!" Tina peeped. "It's GIRRRR!"

"Why's his face blurred out?" Josh asked. Gir was shocked and cheered when he saw himself.

"I love this show." Gir peeped then hugged the corner of the T.V. screen.

"Now you all get to see the horror of his imagination." Zim warned them. The screen panned to the Dramatic Reenactment of Gir portraying himself as the lady hiding in the bushes and him describing the adventure of his squirrel friend. They laughed through entire portrayal. Then the host asked him.

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"Me and the squirrel are friends." Gir chirped to the host.

"Awwwww…" Tina and Mary sighed. They watched the cast dance and Actor Dib be pulled out of the scene by the paramedics. They saw the host lose his wits, call each of them crazy and claim himself crazy attacking the camera. They laughed loudly.

"You guys certainly drove him nuts." Mary said smiling to Zim and Dib.

"We totally did. It took the producers a month to convince him to continue the show after his episode." Dib informed them.

"How did you know?" Josh asked.

"I read it online on their official website." Dib said. "We broke that poor man."

"Dude, whatever this show is, it had to be the best episode I've seen." Josh admitted.

"You just thought it was great because we were in it." Dib said wise to his choice of entertainment.

"True, but really, that was most hilarious. Can I take the DVD home and watch it again?" Josh asked of Dib. Dib shook his head, got up and hit eject on the DVD player then placed the DVD back in its case.

"Sorry, but it's my only copy. I can't lend even to my friends. Who knows what will happen." Dib said then Josh got on his knees and begged.

"Please, please Dib." Josh begged.

"Let him have it." Zim figured it couldn't do any harm. "It's probably uploaded on the internet. No point in protecting what everyone already saw."

"Fine, here." Dib said handing it Josh.

"Yes! Thank you! I'll return it to you tomorrow." Josh said getting up off the floor.

"What are you planning to do with the video anyways? Watch it again?" Zim asked.

"You'll see…" Josh said suspiciously secret to his motives.

"What have we done?" Zim pondered out loud.

"Time to make parody internet gold." Josh said walking to the door.

"Nooooo!" Zim and Dib both screamed then jumped Josh and wrestle the DVD out of his hand.

"You can't have it." Dib decided and Zim nodded. Josh moaned it was taken from him.

"How about we watch another movie?" Mary suggested.

"Good idea," Dib agreed and stuck the DVD case in his pocket.

"How about my movie?" Brian suggested then showed to case to Zim and Dib. "It's about moose. I think Minimoose feels kind of left out."

Brian pointed to Minimoose upside down on the ceiling moping.

"Ohhhhh…Minimoose, come down from there." Tina tried to persuade the depressed moose.

Minimoose whined and shook his body refusing to budge.

"Minimoose," Zim said his name sternly. "Would you like to watch a movie with you in it?"

Minimoose beamed hearing the offer. He flew fast to his master and saw what Zim has holding in his hand.

"It has moose just like you." Zim cajoled the DVD's value. Minimoose peeped happy to see the movie. "Then it's settle." Zim opened the case and put the DVD in his player and press play. They sat back on the couch; Minimoose hovered to Zim and sat on his lap. Gir jumped on Mary's lap wanting to watch the movie too. The movie documented the daily life span of a moose, what it ate, it's mating ritual and its migration pattern. In the movie, it showed many Canadians watch the great moose migration into Alaska where they like to graze during winter. Canadians and Alaskans alike watched these creatures roam through binoculars at a safe distance.

"Who would sit there in the freezing cold watching them herd?" Josh bothered to ask bored out of his mind.

"I would," Zim spoke. "I would like to see a moose." Minimoose peep a disappointed squeak. Zim heard him then said. "And I would bring Minimoose along so he can meet them." Minimoose squealed delighted to his decision and nuzzled his arm.

"Awwww…." Tina sighed then patted Minimoose's head. "He's adorable. There wouldn't be any reason not to bring him along."

"Can I come too?" Gir asked Zim.

"Well, I certainly can't leave you here alone." Zim said.

"Yay! We're going to Canada!" Gir shouted. "I'll pack!"

"No Gir, We're not going now. I was just figuratively speaking!" Zim tried to tell him but Gir was already up the stairs. Zim sighed and didn't bother to chase him.

"Should we tell him?" Mary asked Zim.

"No, I'll tell him later. Who knows, the packing might wear him out." Zim said then he heard a silent buzzing sound. It was strange because it sounded so familiar and so close like it was behind him. Zim turned his head and saw the monkey portrait slide into the ceiling. His friends turned around curious to see it displayed a wide screen.

"I didn't know you had a better T.V." Tina stated. Zim gulped scared to see again. Zim got off the couch quickly and said.

"It's not a T.V. screen."

His friends followed Zim position standing to the giant screen. Dib stood next to Zim while Mary held his hand afraid for Zim's sake. She never saw him so scared. Mary held his hand with both of hers and squeezed them tight. The screen fuzzed static stripes then came in clear to show two alien strangers for his friends but not to Zim and Dib. They both had long heads and eyeballs. Their skin similar color to Zim's and bare long antennas. The only difference was their choice in color matching each eye color.

Zim was very very very surprised. He was speechless to see his former leaders before him. Tallest Purple and Red. They looked through the screen recognizing Zim, he grew taller they noticed but was even more noticeable were the amount of humans in the room. Their mouths wide open gawking at Red and Purple's appearance.

"What do you want?" Dib snapped at them on Zim's behalf. Tallest Red clicked on the screen then scrolled down to the language the human address him and remembered it was English. He clicked on the right button and broke the language barrier. Tallest Red cleared his throat before speaking.

"Ah, that's better." Tallest Red spoke in English. "Greetings Earthlings,"

"No way…" Josh manages to speak silent.

"This has nothing to concern you. Among, you humans live an outsider named Zim. OOOOooooo!" Red said wiggling his fingers as Purple did the same behind him.

"What kind of shit is this?" Zim snaps breaking from his shock.

"Oh, looks like they already know." Purple said examining Zim's appearance.

"I can see that." Red also pointed out his casual apparel. "Let's cut to the chase. Zim, we need your help."

"You need MY help?" Zim shouted.

"Yes, soldier." Red confirmed his statement.

"MY HELP! I thought you didn't need MY HELP! What is this really about? Why have you called me?" Zim asked many questions. Everyone kept their eyes on Red awaiting answers.

"Fine, we'll make our motives clear. It involves Operation Impeding Doom 2. We've been struggling trying to conquer the last planet of our conquest, Planet Meekrob. We have sent many troops but atlas they end up dead fifteen minutes flat. We find them each time; Paks exploded from their bodies. We believe they know how to tamper our life support system."

"What does this have to do with me?" Zim asks. Dib looks at Zim's bare back and realized their motives.

"Because they want you to infiltrate the planet. Zim, Skoodge must have told them you can live without a Pak." Dib told Zim.

"Precisely," Red didn't deny it then remembered the boy from years ago they tried to capture for experimentation. "Such a shame, your brain would have made a great retribution to our lab."

"We want you to be an Invader again and you can be as crazy as you please, just terrorize the right planet this time." Purple said.

"Yes, Commander Skoodge told us of your great effort in rescuing him. Your efforts haven't gone unnoticed. It was wrong to banish you completely seeing you've been loyal to your Irken comrade in his time of need. Perhaps we misjudged you. This is the second chance you asked for. Do this mission and we will return your title meaning you will be accepted back in our society. You can finally come home." Red said sweetly to Zim. "What do you say, Zim?" Everyone's eyes were dead focus on Zim waiting his decision. The room stayed quiet. Mary looked up to Zim. Suspense was eating her inside knowing her love might leave her. "Zim…" Mary uttered his name. Zim looked down to Mary then sneaked a wink and smirked. Mary sighed relieved and grinned. She released his hand not worried anymore. He chuckled to his leaders. His leaders shared glances bewildered by his laughter.

"This is so overwhelming, all I can say is FUCK YOU!" Zim proudly screamed and stuck out his middle finger. His friends smiled to him rejecting his leaders.

"Yeah, fuck you!" Josh joined in shouting at the screen. They glanced at Josh wondering why he did that. "What? How often can you say it to an alien leader?"

"Yes, is that a yes?" Purple asked Red confused. Red scratched his head confused to the meaning of the reference.

"Oh, right." Zim remembers they know nothing of human insults. "In other words, I won't do it you…CEEPS!"

Red and Purple gasped loudly for what he called them.

"As my best friend said, you only want me because I have no Pak. Whether I rescued Skoodge means nothing to you. You just want me back for your selfish gain and I'm not going to be a part of it. And as for being 'accepted' in your society; I don't want it. I could care less being graced with a welcome return to Irk. I belong to Earth. I may be Irken but I'm more accepted and happy here than I'll ever be on Irk. This is my home now. Not Irk. And I definably don't need to pledge loyalty to you!" Zim pointed then turned his back on them. "Find some other lackey to die for your cause."

"I see." Red finally said. "So this is your home now?"

"Did you hear me stutter?" Zim questioned turning his head to Red.

"Nope, you made it perfectly clear. You always had a loud mouth. I'm pleased that part of you didn't change." Red smirked.

"What do you mean?" Zim turned around and took a few steps forward.

"You've grown soft over the years. I can see it in this room. So many humans. You must care for them dearly if you're comfortable not to wear a human mask. It would be awfully sad for one particular Irken to disagree. His leaders armed with the right equipment to say…Destroy a planet in a push of a button or send out troops to invade and make it part of our conquest." Red said hearing Purple giggle delighted he has blackmailing Zim. "But it could all be avoided if you take back what was said and say yes. The simplest peep of the word and they will be spared."

Zim lowered his head conflicted by the choice he had no choice to make. He knew what they are threatening was true. They wouldn't take them long to capture this planet. He knew the technology was weak compared to his race's weapons.

"Zim!" he heard Mary cry to him gripping his arm.

"Zim, you don't have to agree to anything." Dib tried to tell him but he made his decision. He looked each of his friends in the eyes, to Dib and lastly to Mary's the longest. Mary saw the pain in his eyes then looked away feeling it was too much. She knew he would have to agree.

"I will accept your mission on one condition. If I were not to success and die, you will spare this planet." Zim said looking to his Tallest putting up a brave front. Mary looked to Zim once more and shouted his name.

"Zim, no!"

"Zim, you can't mean it!" Dib shouted too.

"Deal, I will expect you to construct your ship and meet at the docking station outside of Meekrob. You have three Earth months."

"Yes, My-My Tallest." Zim bitterly accepted their command.

"See you then, soldier." Red said and was about to sigh out.

"Wait just one second!" Mary shouted. Red and Purple stared curious to the human's scream. "You expect Zim to build a space ship less than three months? That's crazy! It doesn't give him or anyone enough time for anything. Can't you find another way to invade the planet without him? Do you really need that planet? And who the heck do you think you are asking for his help then threatening to destroy our planet if he doesn't?"

"He picked quite the female." Purple stated to her ramble of questions.

"That you're right." Red agreed then ends the transmission. Mary wondered how they knew about their relationship then it dawned on her she was clinging on Zim the whole transmission.

"This is just great! Just great!" Dib shouted then began pacing back in forth. "What am I saying, great? There is no time to be sarcastic! We have a space ship to build! I thought I would be out of saving the world. Letting it be Green Peace's problem, but no! Stupid Irken leaders threaten to kill us, again! We can't build a space ship in three months! What I am going to tell Dad? Oh man, Dad. He is not going to like this one bit! Not at all, he might not even believe me! He'll probably say, 'Oh Son, that's a good one,' I wish it was a joke Dad. I wish it was!"

Mary and her friends watch Dib pace back and forth flipping out to the situation at hand. Mary turns around wanting to comfort Zim, but he wasn't there. He was nowhere to be found in the living room. Mary heard a sound in the kitchen thinking it was Zim and entered. Josh, Tina and Brian were left to soak up what have happened.

"So Zim will have to leave?" Tina asked them sadly.

"I'm afraid so." Josh said. "He really had no choice in the matter. Freakin' bastards."

"Zim is willing to sacrifice his life to save us." Brian stated. His friends look to the ground not sure what to say but Brian knew what had to be done. "We have to do our best to help Zim. For his sake and ours. We owe our friend that much."

Josh and Tina nodded agreeing to Brian's words. Meanwhile Mary pulled the hanging cord to access the elevator she saw was active. She guessed Zim ran to his lab. Mary waited for the elevator to arrive in position and when it did, she didn't hesitant to enter and pressed down. Mary's anxiety stood still trying to keep her wits. When she arrived at lab level, she saw the computer was on.

"Computer," She asked it. "Did you see Zim?"

"Yea, he left in that elevator to the right to top level. I've never seen him go up there for a long time. What's going on? Usually Zim greets me but he didn't say a word. Is everything okay?"

Mary couldn't say and ran away to the top level elevator. She pressed the button and entered it. She reached the final only stop. Mary looked around the empty shut up hallway and entered the only room available. Mary instantly saw Zim standing in the dark on a bare silver circular platform. Mary hears him muttering.

"Zim!" Mary called out to him but he didn't turn to see her. Mary jumped from the ledge and ran to the platform. His mutter became clear to her.

"I have no supplies. This is a good start." Zim uttered. Mary faces Zim to see the development of tears in his eyes. Mary stared into his eyes wonder if he could see her through his tear full eyes. He could and wrapped his arms around her desiring some comfort in her embrace. Mary hugged Zim letting him sink weak to the floor and sat with him. He looked to Mary and asked. "Why is this happening?" He saw his tears provoked her to cry and wanted to hug her but Mary beat him to it hugging him first. She laid his head on her shoulder. She held him petting his head. Zim felt vulnerable, the world he loved was taken away from him again. He couldn't hold back his tears no more and cried into her shoulder. Mary tears trickle from her eyes but she wiped it away so it wouldn't hurt Zim. During his sob, he asks her:

"How am I going to do this?"

Mary petted his head, wiped the tears from her eyes and swallowed the misery in her heart to say.

"We will find a way."

* * *

Ceep (seep) n. [slang] 1. Genetic incest of the incubation chamber. 2. One that has repeated genetic matter unnatural to the Irken gene pool. 3. A revolting copy.

Yes, I made up an alien swear word. :)


	38. Brought Together

I did it! Praise me! =D

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 38: Brought Together

Zim stares distraught into empty space. The thin annoyed line has been crossed waiting for the forty-year–old woman to get her debit card from her checkbook. At his section beside the register, he waited patiently for her to slide the card through the machine to be accepted. The woman entered her pin number. Zim watched the receipt print out and hand her copy.

"Have a nice day." Zim mindlessly uttered then put the final two bags in the cart. Zim spied the clock two yards away. Just fifteen minutes and I will be done he thought. Zim scanned the next person's items and bagged them. When he scanned the final item, he clicked enter to show the customer how much she owed Mart-Wall.

"Your total is thirty-eight dollars and fourteen cents." Zim told her. Instead of preparing any form of payment, the middle aged lady stared at him a blank.

"That can't be right." She said. Zim looked at the computer screen and the fifteen items she bought remembered counting each one.

"Yes Ma'am, it's correct. You owe thirty-eight dollars and fourteen cents." Zim repeated the final sale. The woman wasn't very happy and glared at him. Zim rolled his eyes to retort her glare. She reached into one bag and pulled out a can of soup.

"Isn't this on sale? This should be ninety nine cents."

"No, the sale was last week. It's $2.53 a can." Zim said. "I know, I set it up."

"I only have thirty-two dollars." The lady said.

"Well, you can not pay for a few of these things and-"

"I only give you thirty-two dollars. I will not pay any higher." The lady assisted. Zim stared at her strange.

"Are you haggling me because it's not working. You can't negotiate prices with super markets." Zim told her.

"If I can't pay thirty-two dollars then I won't pay. I'll leave unsatisfied and you have to put it all away."

"Go ahead. There's the door." Zim said not caring either way. "I don't mind restocking. I'll do it before I go which is in about five minutes."

"Where's your manager? I want to speak to your manager!" She demanded. Zim sighed then called up his supervisor via intercom. In three minutes, Mr. Happy was to his register. Zim quickly brief him on the situation. Mr. Happy apologizes to her and let her pay the price she wanted. Then Mr. Happy glared at Zim.

"You call me for this?" Mr. Happy questioned.

"She asked to speak with my manager." Zim pointed out.

"I shouldn't have to get involved at all. You need to try better with your people skills." Mr. Happy tried to advice.

"It's not my 'skills' needing improvement, it's the people's intelligence." Zim stated.

"Whether he's a dumbbell or freakin' Stephen Hawking, it is your job to make our customers happy. You understand?"

"Yes Sir." Zim accepted.

"Good, this is a warning. Next time this happens, I'll write you up." Mr. Happy cautioned. "Empty your register. Your shift is over. We're closing this booth for the night."

Zim opened, empty the register cash in the money pouch and handed it to Mr. Happy. Zim punched out and left. He grabbed his backpack he left in the staff room and exit the store. The automatic sliding door opens for him to a clear sunny May day. Zim muttered all the way to the bus stop over what happened.

"Improve my people skills." He muttered. "I don't need to improve anything. I'm the savior of humanity. Well, I'm getting there."

Zim waited ten minutes. His bus arrived and boarded returning to his neighborhood after a long day of bickering. He walked up to Dib's house and knocked on the door. Nobody answered. He assumed everyone was in the backyard so he let himself in. He dropped his backpack on the floor next to an armchair and went through the kitchen. He opened the back door to see the progress of the space ship. The exterior, silver white, covered in shimmering thermal protective silica tiles smooth to the touch like sleek plastic. The wings were thin but durable shaped wide fins ready to take the sky and body bubble built encloses the cockpit. The body bubble form stretch out to hold the wings and shape a place for engine and powerful rocket booster jets to the tail. On top, a shark like fin rudder reaching the sky and to the bottom, shock absorbers to serve as landing gear and hold the ship steadying its position. Three shock absorbers sit to each side of the space ship as well as two rocket boosters sit under the body beneath the wings. Everything was set for outside appearance except for one thing: they were missing a window. This was obvious because Zim could see Josh sitting in the cockpit clearly installing new equipment. Zim took a few feet to greet him then stopped, seeing sparks fly from inside the ship. He peered inside the only door hatch beside the cockpit. He spotted Dib's boot.

"Zim!" She shouted. Zim turned around and saw Mary sitting at the patio table. Josh heard her and looks up to see Zim. She got up from the table decorated with many maps, walked up and hugged him.

"How was work?" Mary asked.

"It's about time you show up." Josh complained. Zim looked to Josh while Mary settle wrapping her arm around Zim's.

"Sorry," Zim addressed the complaint with an apology. "Still have to work."

"Whatever." Josh spat out then whined. "Just pick up a blow torch and help us. We've been busting our chops since three-thirty."

Zim looked at his watch to spy the time.

"It's only six." Zim told him. "Man, you can't handle working long, can you?"

"No, nothing like this." Josh waved his arms to display the cockpit he been setting up all week.

"I do appreciate your help." Zim let him know.

"Okay. You're welcome." Josh accepted then focuses into the cockpit installing the navigation system. Zim grin then felt the gentle squeeze of Mary hugging his arm. She smiled to him.

"Oh, Mary." Zim remembered the question she asked before he was distracted. "Work was dumb, really dumb."

"Then why don't you quit already?"

Zim spied Dib who addressed him. Dib held the wielding mask he was formally wearing in one hand and a blow torch in the other. He sat in the doorway of the ship's hatch. "We would have been done sooner if you didn't work."

"I doubt we could complete it before a month's time. Besides, I help when I come back. Zim's not lazy."

Dib rolled his eyes and Zim ignored his attitude to ask the progress of the ship.

"So, how's it going?" Zim asked peering in to see less sparks than before speckle on the titanium floor. "Who's in there?"

"Dad, he's sealing the interior walls to the right. Today we set up the ventilation system. Now we're waiting for Tina and Gaz to come back."

"For why?" Zim asked.

"To get oxygen tanks from Dad's lab, duh." Dib reminded Zim. "We need the tanks to put two and two together and complete the right interior wall. They should be back momentarily."

"Oh." Zim said brought light in the situation. He glanced around and noticed they're missing a kid. "Where's Brian?"

"He's in the front yard garage gathering bolts to strengthen the engine's frame."

"Not anymore." He said. Brian returned entering the yard with a small box half full of nuts and bolts. Inside the box stuck out a ratchet. Brian smiled to Zim.

"Hey Brian." Zim greeted him. "What's up?"

"Zim, when we complete the ship, can I be the first to test drive it?" Brian asked with much enthusiasm glee in his eyes.

"Sure, you did come up with design and made its engine too. I don't see why not."

"Cool." Brian express pleased then walked to the back side of the ship. Brian turned the handle to release the compressed seal of the ship's side compartment of the engine. He began the necessary tune up.

"We're back!" Shouted Tina opening the gate to the backyard. Gaz followed right behind her carrying one oxygen tank in her arms. Tina picked up the oxygen tank she sat beside her and enter too. Tina spied the simple white tile color of the ship and pretended to gag. "This ship is too plain. Why it has to be white again?"

"So others can see it and not crash into me." Zim told her the third time.

"They can see lime and strawberry pink too." Tina suggested the earlier picks she wanted. She looked at the ship and came up with an idea. "I know; how about we paint crazy stripes on it. That would be cool."

"No way!" Dib protested. "No painting the ship! The chemicals in the paint could damage the silica tiles."

"Pst…Nerd." Tina said then sat down the oxygen tank next to the ship. Despite Tina's complaint on its simple design and color, Gaz viewed it as wickedly exciting.

"I can't wait to test drive this bad boy." Gaz spoke rubbing her hands together. Zim overheard the comment.

"Oh, you can after Brian does." Zim told her.

"WHAT?" She shouted. "Why he?"

"He asked first and did design it." Zim said then saw her display the ugliest anger face he ever seen from Gaz. "It's only fair."

"Only fair? Everyone knows I'm the best pilot." Gaz reminded them of her title.

"Brian's a pilot too. He flies his parents' crop duster." Zim defended his decision. "You'll have to wait your turn."

Gaz growled and slammed the oxygen tank in Zim's arms. She marched, opened the door and enters the house.

"What's up with her?" Zim questioned her attitude.

"Well, um, she had a rough day." Tina vaguely informed them.

"What kind of day?" Wondered Zim looking back at the door she banged in rage.

"A rough one, it's all I can say." Tina can only tell.

"Oh, okay." Zim accepted shrugging his shoulders.

"On a side note." Tina said changing the subject. "We have the oxygen tanks. Zim, with all the trips I took to get supplies, you're lucky I'm not charging you for gas. With it being six dollars and four cents to the gallon, it's like the cheapest in years."

"Which is really lucky considering how much you need to get to Meekrob." Dib stated.

"And come back." Zim stated to Dib then looked at Tina and Mary. "I'm coming back."

"Right, right." Dib suddenly answered. "Of course you are. I know you are. You always have a way to get out of trouble. You'll conquer Meekrob in no time."

Before Zim could comment Dib picked up a blow torch and placed on the wielding mask.

"Dib, I-"

"No time to talk." Dib interrupted. "Are you going to stand there or are you helping me the ventilation system?"

Dib stepped inside the space ship without saying another word. Zim turned to Tina. She was standing beside Josh in the cockpit then to Mary who stood silent. Mary noticed him staring and changed her frown into a smile. Zim knew his friends were hiding their sadness behind masks. They have been hiding since last March. It's been over a month after they threatened him to do a so called suicide mission. He may be safe without a PAK but how safe could he be on Meekrob being the Invader responsible for their coming downfall. The ship served a purpose more than an aircraft. It was a project, the construction to build something safe; to mask the pain of losing a good friend, a lover, a brother and son. The unity created for his protection. Zim became familiar with the sentiment and accepted it as their way to conform and comfort to him leaving. He decided to be the way to conform too. Focusing on the construction rather than letting his fears consume keeping him sane when he needs to be strong.

"Zim, are you helping or not?" Dib shouted from the ship. His shout startled him from his thoughts. Mary saw his jump and rubbed his arm in her effort to calm him. Zim appreciated the effort and held her hand on his arm then gave it a soft squeeze.

"I should help." Zim said. Mary nodded and let go of his arm. Zim found another wielding mask next to the base of the ship and strapped it on. Zim stepped inside to aid Dib and Membrane. After awhile, the men stepped out of ship. The ventilation system was installed. All it need was the oxygen tank hooked up to complete it but it was getting late. Prof. Membrane clicked his organizer connected to his arm to read out the time.

"It's 7:15 P.M. Alright kids." Prof. Membrane announced loudly. "Time to wrap it up for the day. We'll meet here again same time tomorrow. Any objections?"

Mary raised her hand to answer Membrane's question.

"Yes, young lady?" Membrane acknowledged her.

"I have to volunteer at the orphanage tomorrow." Mary told him.

"Then you are excused. Anyone else?" He asked. Zim, Dib, Tina, Brian and Josh shook their heads.

"Okay then, have a good night. Oh, anybody need a ride home?"

"Nope, I can take them, Membrane." Tina as always offered the ride home for her buddies.

"Good. If you excuse me, I have other things to attend to." Prof. Membrane allowed himself to leave inside his house. Tina stretched out her arms and yawned.

"It's about time." She shouted jumping out of the cockpit.

"Yep, me too." Josh admitted. "Too much meddling with the navigation system but I think I can have it operational tomorrow. Mary, how's the coordinates coming along?"

"I do have the coordinates of where Meekrob is." Mary told him then sighed. "Yet, I still have trouble calculating how long Zim would get there."

"How come?" Tina asked.

"I don't know the exact power of the engine to make a more accurate prediction."

"Yea, okay." Brian butted in. "As soon as we run the first test, we should know."

"Okay," Mary said. " I just want to make sure Zim has enough time to make the journey without being late."

"We would be done already if Zim didn't have a job." Dib butted in and looked at Zim funny. "Why are still working there if you be gone in June?"

"Do you really have to ask, Dib-monkey? I would have figured you would know." Zim expressed. Dib still glared at him. Zim sighed. "I have expenses and need to save up so I have the money to support myself when I return."

"Saving? Is that what you're doing because as I recall you bought Mary a pretty-"

"It was a necessary expense!" Zim snapped.

"Necessary, right…" Dib said. He stood up and marched to his house. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

They stared perplexed as he slammed the door. Zim shook his head and stood up from the spaceship. He glanced at each of his friends.

"Thanks for all your help." Zim said.

"No problem, Zim." Tina said. "You are protecting our planet. It's the least we can do."

"Right." Zim agreed.

"C'mon guys, I'll take you home." Tina offered. Brian and Josh followed her league walking to the front gate. Mary took a step and stop when she felt Zim's arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"You guys go ahead, we have plans." Zim told them.

"We do?" Mary questioned him.

"Did you want to have plans?" Zim whispered in her ear. Mary blushed then nodded.

"Yes…" Mary replied.

"Okay, see you tomorrow." Tina shouted. They waved goodbye to their friends while exiting through the gate. They watched Tina's car start up and pass by them. Mary turned to Zim in wonder.

"So what are we doing?" Mary asked him. Zim stuck his hands in his front pockets and walked forward.

"I have an idea. Follow me." Zim said. Mary and Zim left the backyard and trot on the sidewalk leaving the neighborhood. Mary had her arm wrapped around his right mimicking each step he took. Mary slid her hand upon his arm to wrist. Zim, aware of the sensation, took his hand out of pocket and held hers. Eventually, they appear before a small managed café. Zim halted his steps and turned to Mary.

"Would you like to go here?" Zim asked her. Mary nodded curious of the chic little shop. They went to the front door. Zim opened it and allowed Mary to be first. They entered the shop and sat at the table next to a bay window. A waitress wearing casual attire came at their table. Zim wasn't very hungry and ordered coffee. Mary picked out a fruit parfait from the menu. In a matter of minutes, she returned with a cup of black coffee and Mary's parfait. Mary picked up her spoon and stirred the cut strawberries in the long solid glass dessert cup. Zim took a sip from his coffee and placed it on the saucer. He gazed at Mary watching her scoop the vanilla yogurt in her mouth. She caught his gaze, swallowed the treat and smiled.

"Thanks for the parfait." Mary told him.

"You're welcome." Zim accepted her thanks. Zim tapped the cup lightly with his tea spoon fiddling through his mind what to say next. "So, how are the travel calculations? Have you figured out how long it would take to travel to Meekrob?"

"I have. With the current power of the engine, it will take at least a month. Less if you don't sleep for two days." Mary let him know what she discovered so far.

"Hmmm…" Zim hummed. "If that's the case, I would have to leave before June, before summer break."

"But I'm not completely positive." Mary interrupted. Zim looked up at her. "The power of the engine hasn't been tested to its full potential. I need accurate data before I can calculate correct data so don't think of leaving…yet."

Zim could sense the tension in this conversation.

"Perhaps we should talk about something else." Zim suggested. Mary nodded and took a deep breath.

"Yea…" She sigh it out. Zim understood the struggle Mary was feeling. He's very aware of his own mixed feelings of leaving her too. He didn't want her to be tortured with the thought. He really wanted to make her happy so he thought it was the best of time than any to bring up his surprise.

"Mary, I didn't take you out just to be friendly. Actually, I did, but I had a motive. I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise?" Mary questioned. "What is it?"

Zim slipped the rectangular two strips of paper on the surface table.

"Next Saturday, we're going to Prom." Zim announced. Mary picked up the papers to see they were prom tickets.

"Really Zim?" Mary smiled excited.

"Yep."

"What about your job?"

"I put in three weeks notice I wanted the night off." Zim told her. "It's taken care of."

"Oh Zim. You shouldn't have." Mary said pleasantly. "This is just too much. First, you give me this beautiful locket for my birthday, now you're bringing me to prom. You're spoiling me."

He gazed upon her and the heart shaped gold pendent stringed around her neck.

"You could never be spoiled. I do these things out of love. I love you, Mary." Zim paused to see her blush. He smiled. "I don't just want you and me to go. I want everyone to come. Last April has been harsh on all of us. I'd like us to hang out, have fun for a change and not worry for the fate of humanity."

"It would be great for all of us." Mary admitted.

"I'll propose the idea at lunch. Maybe Tina and Josh thought of going too." Zim said. "Heck, I'll even persuade Dib to come if he doesn't want to." Zim sipped his coffee. As he did, he spied a dab of whip cream on Mary's nose. "Mary, you have some cream right here." Zim said and wiped it off with his index finger. Zim showed her the cream.

"Oh," Mary smirked a bit embarrassed. "Thanks."

Zim licked the cream off his finger then gagged to the taste. After he drank his coffee, the waitress return with the check. He paid on the spot and when Mary ate her dessert, they left. Zim escorted her across the street to the bus stop. They waited seven minutes until it arrived and during the time, they exchanged little words and questions in Irken.

"Okay, how do you say, 'Where am I?'" Zim asked her for the lesson. Mary tried imitating the question but it came out all wrong. Zim stared oddly puzzled at what she tried to say. "Hmmmm…Almost. Try speaking it a little faster."

"This language is tough." Mary stated.

"Tough because it's out of this world." Zim said then saw the bus coming down the hill. "You'll get it. You've learned a lot already in the month I taught you."

"Okay, I'll keep practicing." Mary said determined to learn. Zim kissed her cheek encouraging her. When the bus arrived Mary boarded without Zim mostly because he wanted to walk since he lived nearby. She sat down and waved goodbye through the window. The bus pulled into the road back in the stream of traffic and drove away. During her trip, Mary thought, delighted she was attending prom with Zim and how generous he was. Devoted a more accurate term to describe it in maintaining her happiness despite the stressful situation both were under. Mary glanced to the locket hanging from her neck over her yellow blouse then thought of the day Zim gave it to her; her birthday, few days ago last Friday at her house. Mary opened the final present given to her by Tina. It was a light blue shirt with yellow printed flowers decorated on it. She thanked her but wondered if it really was the last present. Her friends not caring either way were excited and ate cake talking pop culture. Prof. Weylin sat among the teenagers having a piece of cake listening to the chatter. Mary thanked her friends and decided to put away her presents in her room. When she arrived at the top stair, she heard a step and turned slightly to see Zim standing behind her. He said he had her present but wants to give it to her in private. Mary nodded and Zim followed to her room. Mary placed her gifts on the desk then sat on her bed. Zim stood before her, received a small white box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She opened the lid and saw the gold pendant lay inside. Zim sat beside her.

"Gaz said something about you wanting to have a necklace reflecting your personality and I know a heart is cliché but-"

Mary hugged him to stop his speaking.

"Zim, I love it." Mary said while embracing him then she let go. "Thank you."

"It's a locket." Zim informed her. "Open it carefully and take a look."

Mary clicked open the plated lid and peered inside. It had what appeared to be a tiny circuit board she could not recognize.

"What is it?" She asked.

"It's a satellite disruptor. I made it myself. It's supposed to cancel out any long distance signals from space just in case they try to find you. A safety precaution."

"Do you think they would find me? For what purpose?" Mary wondered.

"Who knows but I created it for your protection." Zim said then cupped her head lightly. "Promise me you'll wear it at all times when I'm away. So I know you'll be safe."

"I will." Mary promised him then tugged the chain careful out of the box. She found the clasp, release it and hooked the eye around her neck. Zim smiled and kissed her.

"Happy Birthday."

Mary returned to a current state of reality. She thought how great his gift was then misery surfaced when reminded of his leaving. The device he constructed for her protection lay dormant in her necklace 'till needed. Mary didn't want to feel sad then understood why Zim wanted to go to prom. To not let them be bothered with the feeling. Mary cheered up and smiled looking forward to prom.

Meanwhile, at the Membrane residence, Zim returned to the home to pick up his backpack. In the living room, Gaz sat on the couch watching television. Zim entered quietly tip toeing not to disturb Gaz but she caught him coming in the house and stared at him. Zim thought it was his duty to clear things up with her so she wouldn't be angry.

"I'm sorry you weren't my first choice and I would have wanted it that way if-"

"Don't worry too much about it." Gaz refrain him from making a formal apology. "I'm okay with Brian test driving first. He did construct the engine with you. It's fair."

"So you're not mad?" Zim questioned. Gaz nodded in response.

"If you don't mind me asking, what made you so mad earlier? Was it I?"

"No, it was really stupid, not you and I don't want to repeat it." Gaz told him. Zim nodded, picked up his pack and headed towards the door.

"Okay, you have a good night." Zim said. Zim exit the house and went home. Next day at lunch, he presented the idea of prom. Josh and Tina were going and purchased tickets. Brian admitted Penny have been pestering him to go. Everyone was psyched by the occasion except our strange hair style tall fellow, Dib who told them he didn't want to. Zim didn't want Dib to be left out of the fun so he made it his mission to convince him otherwise. During lunch or anytime after, Zim pestered Dib to no end to attend prom. When sixth period ended, Zim was outside Dib's classroom hounding him.

"For the last time, NO!" Dib screamed. "I don't want to go!"

"C'mon Dib, no one cares if you don't have a date." Zim tried to coerce him. "You can still come and have a blast."

"Whoever heard of going stag to prom?"

"A lot of people go to prom together as a group. You don't need to have a date." Zim said walking with him through the hallway.

"Some group." Dib protested the thought. "Everyone will be dancing with their date while I have to dance by myself or stand near the snack bar. Lame!"

"If that's your problem, I could let you dance with Mary. She's very graceful."

"I don't want a pity dance!" Dib shouted.

"Then what's the matter with you?" Zim began to express his agitation. "Don't you want to go with your friends? We all want you to come."

"So, it's just a stupid dance." Dib muttered.

"Okay, that's it! I'm sick of your bad attitude. You've been cranky ever since I accepted the mission."

"And why shouldn't I? I've been working all month helping you build your spaceship." Dib told him but Zim wasn't convinced it was the true nature of his rotten mood.

"Dib, I know you. You love building spaceships. Admit you're upset I'm leaving and get over it." Zim dared to go there.

"I'm not upset! You can go, I wouldn't care if you went tomorrow, in fact, I don't care at all!" Dib screamed. Dib glared at Zim but Dib caught his expressionless face. It threw him off balance to a frown. Dib turned around before Zim could see and marched away. Zim saw it and knew he was full of it. Zim sighed then went to the concession stand to buy an extra ticket. Zim walked out of the skool. Mary left to volunteer at the orphanage so he didn't have to wait. He walked outside off campus to catch his bus. During the stroll, he spotted Dib alone sitting on a bench at the bus stop pointed to home. Zim had a few minutes to spare before he had to catch his and thought he had time to say what he wanted. Zim stood over his friend like a slender shadow. Dib, aware of his presence, continue to stare at the concrete pavement. Zim reached into his pocket and showed him the prom ticket he bought for him.

"Here, I bought it in case you changed your mind. Sure, you may not have a date but I would really appreciate you coming. I'd like to have fun with my friend, my best friend before I go. Prom wouldn't be the same without you."

Zim glanced at Dib's unsettling demeanor and sighed. He left the ticket beside Dib on the bench. He walked away but heard him in the distance.

"Fine, I'll go." Dib said. Zim turned around to see if it was true.

"You will?" He questioned his sudden change of heart.

"Yea, somebody has to keep you out of trouble." Dib said then smiled. Zim shared a smile and ran to his bus stop. He caught his bus and arrived at work. He entered through the back in the employees' only door. Zim knew it was the day of new work schedule posts. He passed the break room to the bulletin board to pick up his schedule for the next three weeks. Zim searched the board for his name and found it, as always, tacked to the bottom right corner. He removed the tack to take his copy of the schedule then poked it into the board returning the tack. Zim gazed through his work schedule checking the dates then something fell astray in his plans. He didn't get Saturday off. The day of Junior Prom; day he asked for three work week prior to not work. Even more so it was a night shift.

"This must be some mistake." Zim gasped. He hoped it could be. Zim went into the main office to find his supervisor to fix this misunderstanding. He found Mr. Happy, sitting at his desk typing on the computer. Zim knocked on the door to get his attention. Mr. Happy looked up at him.

"Good day, Zim." Mr. Happy greeted him.

"Hi, Mr. Happy. May I have a word with you?" Zim offered.

"Of course you can." Mr. Happy allowed. Zim stepped into his office. He stood in front of his desk with no desire to take a seat. "So what do you want to discuss?"

"I think there was a mistake with my schedule. It has me working this Saturday from five to nine at night."

"Oh no, there is no mistake." Mr. Happy denied. "I need you working that night."

"But I specifically asked for this day off three weeks in advance." Zim claimed. Mr. Happy shrugged his shoulders hardly caring. His lack of care irritated Zim. "You know, I don't even know why we have a assigned day off two weeks in advance policy it it's not being enforced. I was planning to go to prom with my girlfriend and friends that evening. I already bought tickets."

"You have a girlfriend?" Mr. Happy exclaimed very surprised. Zim glared at his boss for the rude statement. "Look Zim, I'll tell you what. If you can get someone to work your shift Saturday, I will allow it." Mr. Happy bargained with Zim. He nodded.

"Yea, no problem. I can find somebody to cover my shift."

And like that, Zim prepared for his search by looking at potential co-workers schedules on the bulletin board that either have Saturday off or was working Saturday and could work a little longer. He spent any time he could spare talking to these co-workers during his shift. Atlas, at the end he had none who wanted to trade. He went to Dib ridden with disappointed grief in his effort. Dib wasn't very sympathetic.

"Ha, ha," Dib laughed. "Wow, nobody wanted to trade. Tough break." Zim sat on the couch; face planted into his palms and groaned. "You convince and bought me a ticket to prom then you can't go. You have to appreciate the irony."

"Dib, if I can't go, would you take Mary?" Zim offered. "She really wants to go."

"No, she really wants to go with you. C'mon man! Don't let your boss take away your prom. You got to stand up for yourself!"

"Hey!" Zim stood up and shouted. "You're right! I work there long enough. I deserve more respect for all the hard work I've done!"

"Yeah!" Dib stood with Zim seeing he resurrected his friend from the dumps.

"I shouldn't give it up! I need to demand it from him!"

"That's the Zim I know!" Dib reminded him. "Stubborn! You got to be more persistent!"

"First thing tomorrow, I'm going to march into his office and get what I deserve!" Zim shouted to the top his lungs.

"Fuck Yeah." Dib agreed pumped excited. "Do it!"

"I will!" Zim boasted setting his mind on it. The next day after skool at work, Zim entered Mr. Happy's office ready to not take no for an answer ready to resist a compromise.

"Hello Zim," Mr. Happy said. "Did you find anyone to switch shifts?"

"No and I shouldn't have to. You should be obligated to give me it off. I never call in sick and always do my job right. I deserve it!" Zim started off with his valid points. Mr. Happy read from his attitude as ungrateful.

"You think you deserve it, hell, everybody wants something and you 'deserve it' when you get paid. Just for your attitude, I'm not giving you squat."

"Then I won't show up." Zim shouted.

"You better show up if you want to get paid!" Mr. Happy threatened.

"Well maybe I don't want to get paid that day." Zim tackled his threat.

"If you don't agree to work this Saturday right now, you're fired!" Mr. Happy offered a new one.

Zim leered at him and muttered. "No."

"Then you're fired!" Mr. Happy decided then opened the bottom drawer. "Clear your locker. Your final check will come in the mail. You better pray we don't forget."

"Atheists don't pray." Zim stated. "We act. You should pray I don't come here demanding it."

"Just sign here and take your pink slip." Mr. Happy said putting the paper on his desk before Zim. Zim signed the form releasing him from his former job. Zim was followed to his locker and opened it. He handed his former boss his key and lock. He grabbed the coat he left one time and marched out of the employee's lounge. He turned to Mr. Happy.

"You don't need to follow me. I can escort myself." Zim promptly said. Mr. Happy glared at him and Zim walked away. Zim could feel Mr. Happy staring at him as he stood outside the employee's only door then Zim heard a shout.

"You!" Mr. Happy called out. Zim thought he was calling him but instead he saw Mr. Happy point to another guy who looked around Zim's age. "How would you like to work for Mart-Wall?" He asked the young man.

"Would I?" The young man cheered in delight. "I'd love to."

"You're hired. Follow me." Mr. Happy said. The teenager followed Mr. Happy to the back room.

"What the fuck!" Zim shouted in disbelief after witnessing being replaced. Disgruntle losing his job, Zim return to his neighborhood and knocked on Dib's front door. Somebody answered. It was Dib.

"Wow, you're here early." Dib stated surprised. "Was it a short shift?"

"No, I was fired." Zim told him.

"Oh…" Dib could only respond. "I guess an alternate solution would have been to call in sick Saturday."

"A little too late, Dib, a little too late for that." Zim commented then passed by Dib to enter the household.

"Do you have enough money saved?" Dib ask concern for his financial security. Zim scuff the concern with a laugh.

"You're kidding, right?" He laughed. "I only have the required minimum to pay bills. I spent my 'savings' buying her birthday present and prom tickets which I don't regret. I just wish I had better warning before all that went to hell."

"Here," Dib reached into his pocket and offered him the twenty dollar bill. "Take the amount you paid for my ticket." Dib handed him the money and Zim gladly accepted it.

"Thanks, this will pay for a cheap suit because I don't know when my check is being mailed."

"I'm sorry you got fired." Dib told Zim clearly sympathetic.

"Nah, don't be. I lost my cool. It happens. Now I have to find a way to make money quick." Zim pondered and plopped on his couch thinking of any solution. "Mowing neighbors' yards could earn me twenty dollars…"

"Uhhhh, Zim?"

"What?" Zim questioned awaiting a suggestion and Dib had one.

"How about instead of trying to find easy quick money schemes because it's not happening and just ask Dad. He'll help you."

"No way, he's already helping me gather supplies and building my ship. I just couldn't. It would be too much of a burden on his end." Zim protested the idea of asking Membrane's help.

"On his end? He never paid for the supplies and he's enjoying building the spaceship. He's on paid vacation." Dib informed him of why his thinking is wrong.

"He's on vacation and they are giving him stuff for free?" Zim questioned more impressed in Membrane's position in power.

"Yeah, that's how much of a big shot he is. He doesn't care if he has to support you too. I don't see my Dad saying, 'I'm sorry, Zim. No money for you.'" Dib poorly imitated his Dad to make a point.

"I don't believe he would either." Zim agreed upon that. "But still…"

"Zim, hi!"

Zim tilted his head over the couch to see Mary entering the living room happy at his presence. Dib took it as his cue to go.

"I should see how the navigation system is processing. Think about it." Dib patted Zim's shoulder while he turned the corner of the sofa to make way to the kitchen. He stopped to speak with Mary.

"Mary, you must have crazy super radar skills to know Zim was here." Dib bought up. Mary found his observation far-fetched.

"I came to the kitchen to get a soda and Zim happens to be here." Mary coherently popped his theory.

"Well, glad you are because Zim is having a bad day and I can't get through to him." Dib blurted out Zim's grief.

"Dib, you weasel!" Zim shouted in contempt.

"See ya at the ship." Dib waved and left through the kitchen to the backyard. Zim groaned then cursed under his breath. Mary sat near him to better understand the situation. She grabbed his hand and cupped his in hers. Zim met her eyes when she asked.

"What happened? Are you upset?"

"No, I'm not. I just got fired." Zim finally said.

"Fired?" Mary gasped. "What happened?"

"I provoked an argument between me and my former boss and got fired." Zim summed up for her.

"What was the argument?" Mary asked.

"He had me schedule to work prom night and demanded him to change it. That sort of thing. If you think about it differently, I won; I don't have to work on prom." Zim proudly said adding a new perspective.

"Oh Zim, if you had to work prom, I would understand. We could have gone next year." Mary sighed. "You didn't have to argue with your boss."

"But I wanted to. I asked for it off three weeks ago. I had to get him for being negligent of my request." He explained his reason.

"When you say it like that, it's as if you were defending your rights." Mary understood entirely.

"I was, defending both you and I in what we both wanted and looked forward to. I wasn't to let anyone ruin our big night."

"Now I feel guilty." Mary lowered her chin.

"Don't, it was my choice." Zim said. Mary nodded shaking away the not necessary fault.

"Yes, and I support you and your choice." Mary agreed. "But Zim what are you going to do for money? Did you have enough saved to live off?"

"No, not when I return. Dib thinks I should ask Prof. Membrane for assistance in that aspect."

"Are you?"

"I don't know if I should." Zim paused to say. "I believe Dib when he says Membrane would help me but I feel if I were to accept the help there would be no way I could repay him."

"Sometimes being part of a family means there is no worry to repay or bargain for kindness. It is given freely when needed. Zim, you would help Membrane and Dib if they were in a jam, would you?" She rhetorically asked.

"Yes." Zim replied.

"And not expect anything in return, right?"

"Right." He agreed.

"Then there's your answer. You need help, Zim. You need to open up and accept it. Your family, friends and I are helping you. Membrane is not to mind. Remember, he told me he wished you ask for help more often." Mary reminded Zim.

"You're right, Mary. I'll talk to him later." Zim surrendered to her logic. Mary hugged him in her attempt to comfort.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Mary asked him.

"Yeah, I will. Thank you." Zim warmly replied. Mary kissed his cheek and stood up before him. "Let's help the others, shall we?"

Zim nodded, stood up and walked hand in hand, but a knock at the door draw them amiss to their plan. Zim heard the knock and wondered who it might be. Since he was the available family member in the house, he felt obligated to answer. Mary followed Zim to the door. He turned the knob to see the stranger. It was an old man. He was average height medium built. His hair was a single shade of white puffed long despite the top of his head bald. He was in one gray uniformed suit holding an accordion designed black brief case. He smiled at Zim.

"Hello, is this the Membrane residence?" The elder spoke.

"Yes, are you Membrane's friend?" Zim asked of him.

"No, I'm more of Dib's friend." He informed Zim.

"You're friends with Dib?" Zim questioned the likelihood of this ever happening.

"Yes, we're old acquaintances." He narrowed down.

"Way old because I never heard of you." Zim simply stated. The man displayed a friendly chuckle to Zim's bold outburst.

"And you must be Zim?" He asked his identity. "The alien defending our planet from your race by conquering another." Zim didn't say a word surprised how much this stranger knew of him. "To the look of your expression, I must be right." Zim creak the door hiding his insecurity. He whispered to Mary.

"Tell Dib he has a visitor and come to the front door."

Mary nodded and ran to the kitchen. Zim turned back to the stranger he saw still standing outside the door.

"Who are you?" Zim's right to be suspicious play a key role in his questioning.

"I'm a friend. I'm here to help you." He told him.

"You still haven't answered my question. Who ARE you?" Zim repeated.

"I'm Jack Hollonder. I was a former agent of the Swollen Eyeballs."

"Former? How do I know you are one? What makes you think I would believe you?"

"Dib is the one you would believe, not me. He's the person who contacted me."

Zim glared at the stranger contempt by his clever and mysterious reply.

"Zim, someone at the door for me?"

Zim heard his friend calling; he turned around facing Dib and Mary standing behind him.

"Dib, do you know this man?" Zim questioned then open the door wider to reveal the old friend. Dib smiled.

"Agent Dark Booty, hey, long time no see." Dib gasped recognizing him.

"It's been awhile Agent Mothman. Why, I remember when you were this tall." Dark Booty recalled measuring his height mid-length his thigh. "Now you're taller than me."

"Yea, I'm as tall as my Dad." Dib admitted.

"Good to see you well." Jack replied.

"Likewise." Dib agreed on his condition.

"What the heck is going on?" Zim shouted interrupted them catching up. "Who is he and why does he know so much about me?"

"Zim, this is former Agent Dark Booty. He helped me quit the Swollen Eyeballs when it became corrupt. We both quit together."

"Yes, a lot of things change since Disembodied Head became organization's leader. I didn't like what happened with the tribe of Sasquatch and quit too before it was too late." Jack explained.

"I emailed Dark Booty to ask for help. He works at NASA and is savvy building spaceships. I told him our situation and ask if he could have a look at our ship."

"Dib, how could you tell him such things?" Zim asked of him. "Without even asking me?"

"Sorry Zim, but you can trust him. I do." Dib told him as if it was evident.

"Well, he certainly gave me a scare." Zim expressed to Dib and glared at Jack.

"Did I scare you?" Jack smiled then chuckled. "I didn't mean to."

"Whatever, if Dib says you can be trusted then by all means, have a look at my ship." Zim said letting him enter.

"Thank you; I'll do what I can." Jack said then Zim held out his hand. Jack thought he was engaging a hand shake but Zim laid his hand wide, palm open like he was expecting something.

"Your camera." Zim said. "Hand it over."

"Zim." Dib protested his suspicious behavior.

"No, it's alright. I understand your friend wants to take a necessary step to keep this secret." Jack agreed, reached into his right jumpsuit pocket and gave Zim his phone camera.

"Zim, you can't take his phone." Dib scolded him.

"And why not?" Zim questioned the scolding.

"Zim, I'm telling you he's alright." Dib continued to persuade him. Zim rolled his eyes not convinced then looked to Mary.

"Mary, do you trust him?"

"I can't say." Mary had no opinion of which she could stand on.

"See, how am I to trust someone I just met? Especially someone who knows so much about me." He recalled the conversation they had earlier.

"Dib, if he wants to hold my phone, it's fine. He can be incognito if he likes to. I just want the opportunity to be a part of this. Help a former agent and his estrange alien friend protecting the human race. This is quite an adventure and honor." Jack revealed his motive.

"It won't be if you can't help and look stupid." Zim lashed out.

"I will not disappoint." He said so sure of his skills. "I build a few spaceships back in my day."

"Fine, but I'm keeping your phone." Zim didn't change his mind.

"I wouldn't have it any other way except of course getting my phone ba-"

"To the backyard!" Zim announced their destination. He walked forward without hesitation and marched to the kitchen. Dib, Jack and Mary exchanged odd glances and followed him. Zim led them to the yard home to his ship. There in the yard were Brian, Josh, Tina and Gir. Imagine Zim's shock seeing Gir standing on top of the craft above the cockpit singing. Acting like the silly robot he is.

"Gir! Get down from there!" Zim demanded. The robot heard his command and followed directly. Gir bounced off and saluted then giggled happy to see him. Gir jumped in his arms.

"Hi!" Gir squeaked then hugged him.

"Hello Gir," Zim greeted him. He glanced around wondering where his purple moose was. "Where's Minimoose?"

"Minimoose is with Professor Membrane. Who's that?"Gir pointed to Jack. Zim saw his point then realized Gir was out of disguise. He knew it was too late for him to ask Gir to put on his dog suit and answered his question. "He's a friend of Dib's. He's helping us with the ship."

"Oooo a friend of Dib." Gir said staring at the old man. "He has white hair and a hump. Why you so humpy?"

"Gir, that's rude!" Zim tried to correct his behavior but Gir squealed like a raccoon and ran away into the house. Jack smirked not affected by Gir's words more interested in the robot's design, not the insult.

"So you built Gir?" Jack asked.

"No." Zim only answered and not another word. Josh and Tina heard the high shrill and looked up from what they were doing in the cockpit and holler Josh.

"Hey, Who's he?" Josh questioned the appearance of the stranger. "Brian, get your head out of the engine. We have company."

Brian raised his head to see the old guest. Jack took a step forward to introduce himself.

"My name is Jack Hollonder, a former agent of the Swollen Eyeballs. Dib asks of me to help you in your mission."

"He works for NASA. He's inspecting our ship to see if it needs improvement."

"Cool!" Josh shouted then stepped out of the cockpit. "You know someone from NASA? That's really great!"

"Yea, now we'll know for sure if we're building it right and your engine, Brian." Tina commented thrilled too for the extra help. Brian nodded recognizing the assistance. Jack began pacing around the ship admiring the wings and how smooth they were then had a look at the shock absorbers. Dib intervene while Jack observed.

"We planned to use the shock absorbers as landing gear. Have it retract while flying then release to land."

"Good idea. Has it worked?" Jack asked.

"We did plan to do it automatically but decided to create a switch so it would be a less chance of error. Zim suggested it. We really didn't have time to be creative." Josh replied.

"Tell me about it. He didn't want to choose any rad colors either. It had to be white, just white." Tina stressed her complaint.

"And its exterior is composed of insulation plates?" Jack wondered.

"Yep, it has a thermal protection system too." Dib replied.

"Good. How about the interior? What is the ship's frame made of?"

"Titanium. We thought it was the best metal and we installed oxygen tanks too." Dib stated.

"You guys did your research." Jack replied.

"So what do you do for NASA? Are you the control operator?" Josh asked interested.

"Nope." Jack said then opened the plated lid covering the engine.

"An engineer?" Tina guessed.

"Nope." Jack said taking a peek at the engine.

"Then what are you?" Josh asked atlas giving up on guessing.

"I'm the janitor." Jack replied. His friends couldn't say much to that but Zim laughed hearing his occupation status.

"Ah, ha, ha, ha. Get outta here." Zim chuckled then quickly broke out of laughter. "No. Seriously, get out."

"Zim, I may be the janitor but I have been around NASA Place inside out to keep up with their projects and design a few things myself." Jack said then opened his briefcase and took out one of his gadgets. He held a cube shaped object which appears to hold a sphere within the frame. "The engine is most impressive. May I ask who designed it?"

"That would be me and Zim, Sir." Brian answered him.

"What's the speed?"

"About 700 mph." Brian told him.

"Hmmm…Good I brought this." Jack said then tossed the cube object to Brian. "Boy, think you can install this in the engine?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"A booster capable in reaching 18,000 mph." Jack revealed the gadget's purpose.

"Woah, really?" Brian question staring at the little boxed item.

"Yep, don't believe me, install it and give it a try." Jack offered. Brian walked to the ship while Jack followed Brian to show him how to install it in the engine. Zim intensely watched Jack. Mary felt his tension and held his hand.

"There's no need to worry." Mary assured. "Jack seems trustworthy."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Zim said. "I cannot let my guard down, ever. That's what I learned."

Mary frowned upon Zim's negative outlook but didn't blame him for feeling this way after what has happened. Brian found the spot Jack wanted him to hook up and adjusted it into the system. Brian wiped his brow then glanced to Jack.

"Is that all to it?" Brian questioned how easy it was to install.

"Yep, want to test the power?" Jack tempted Brian's curiosity.

"Sure," Brian said then picked up the electric mileage meter then hooked it in the engine. Josh stepped into the cockpit and turned the key. Josh placed it in park before the test. Jack stood outside the cockpit gazing at the speedometer.

"Just yank the throttle slowly." Jack suggested to Josh. Josh did what he asked and the speedometer sped up quick pass the mileage capacity. Bracket hit in the speedometer hard right.

"Holy Moses!" Josh shouted. "Now that's fast!" They heard the engine run loud than ever before. The ship stayed in park capable of handling the sudden speed. "What's the mileage?" He shouted over the roar of the engine.

"Whoa…" Brian expressed and looked to Jack reading over his shoulder. "It's more powerful than it ever was."

"Well, what it say?" Tina asked also looking over Brian's shoulder.

"It's at 7,000 mph." Brian told them.

"What?" Josh shouted unable to hear him.

"Turn off the engine!" Brian commanded Josh. On demand, Josh adjusted the throttle and switch off the ignition. He jumped out of the cockpit to see the results. Even Dib, Zim and Mary peered over Brian's shoulder to view the results. Tina turned to Mary.

"Mary, crunch those numbers." Tina told her. Mary nodded and picked up a calculator from the table to analyze the new potential speed the ship had. She sat at the table beginning the calculation.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Josh screamed delighted. Jack smiled watching the kid shout to his friends then turned to Jack. "You build the booster all by yourself?"

"Yes, indeed I did." Jack admitted.

"You're a natural genius! How come you don't work for NASA like a rocket expert not an expert cleaner?"

"I'm getting too old to change careers. I'm retiring soon. I only wanted to make my experience working with rocket parts and improving them to be a hobby and mine alone then I heard from Dib, the hyperactive kid met years ago and read his dilemma, your dilemma Zim and thought: If I could help one stranger, a stranger whom I chose to isolate, ridicule and terrify his kind and all other unusual creatures then maybe this hobby wouldn't be a waste after all." Jack confessed to them. Zim considered his confession before speaking since it was aimed for him.

"Your help, I am grateful to you but don't expect forgiveness from me. I wasn't the one you terrified, he was." Zim said pointing to Dib. "If you really feel bad for what you done, you would atone to the ones you ridicule, isolate and possibly damaged. That's what I'm doing."

"You make a very good point." Jack admitted accepting his wisdom.

"Take it from an ex-invader, of this planet that is." Zim reminded of his position.

"What you gonna do, boy?" Jack asked thrown to more serious subject to speak.

"I don't know." Zim plainly spoke without hesitation. "Maybe if I find a weak point, I could use it against them. I don't want to think too much about it."

Jack nodded then said. "It must be hard."

"It will be." Zim could only guess.

"Hmm." Jack mumbled and turned to the ship. "I have to say this is the most remarkable ship I ever seen constructed by teenagers. Only one thing: You're missing an important piece."

Jack waved inside the cockpit of the non existing window.

"How are you to protect Zim from the harsh vacuum of space?" Jack imposed.

"Crap, we forgot the window!" Josh exclaimed truly surprised.

"Oh, I didn't forget." Dib told them. Everyone looked at him wondering if he had it. Dib rubbed his neck feeling awkward. "I just never found one."

"Oh gosh, Dib! You had windows? Why didn't you say something sooner?" Zim expressed in the most sarcastic tone.

"Shut up!" Dib snapped to Zim. "You know how hard it is to find a window capable to handle that kind of pressure? I don't even know where to start."

"Calm down, Dib." Zim advised. "I'm positive it's not hard to find. Jack, what type of window do you recommend?"

"It will have to be aluminum silicate glass to handle any unnatural forces and pressure. NASA uses these types of windows for shuttle spaceships."

"Aluminum what now?" Zim questioned.

"Aluminum silicate glass." Jack repeated.

"Can you supply it for us?" Zim asked ever so politely. Jack shook his head.

"Sorry, with my current position and rank I can only ask for an extra mop and be lucky to receive it." Jack said. "Sorry kids."

Zim thought for a moment to where he might get this specific glass from. He could think of one person but it was a long shot. He had no other options to try.

"I might know where to get the windows." Zim informed his crew. They looked at his with intrigue. He took out his cell phone from his pocket. Zim went to his contacts; press on the person's number to dial. It rang a couple of times then picked up.

"Greg's Home Repair: We sell windows, wood and repair cheap, cheap, cheap!"

"Neat slogan." Zim commented.

"Zim, is that you old boy?" Greg answered. "How have you been? Did someone bust another window?"

"No, actually I was wondering, do you have aluminum silicate windows?"

"I happen to actually do. They are costly." He replied. "Some guy ordered them for his crazy designer house but when I came over with them he changed his mind. Some nerve, took me three weeks to order and he takes them back."

"This is good news for me. I need those windows."

"But Zim, they are really really expensive. Whatever damage has been done to your house, I'll fix just as good for a lower price."

"It's not for my house. I need a window for a spaceship."

"A spaceship?" Greg questioned.

"Yeah,"

"Zim, you got to be pulling my chain." Greg chuckled.

"If you don't believe me come to Professor Membrane's house to see for yourself."

"Alright, I'll see how long this little joke will take us; I have nothing better to do." Greg said then hung up.

"I got it covered." Zim told his friends. Zim and Mary waited for Greg to arrive at Membrane's house on his front porch. When Zim recognized Greg's truck, he stood up and waved hello. Greg waved too when he parked in the driveway. The skinny African American man in the blue uniform got out of his car to meet Zim and Mary.

"So, by the looks of it you two eventually got together." Greg said seeing Mary holding Zim's hand. "I knew you had your eyes on her."

"Yes, yes we're a happy couple and all that. Did you bring the glass?"

"Ha,ha, yeah, I did just to humor you like you did on the phone. So where is this mighty spaceship?" Greg smirked.

"In the backyard. Follow me." Zim told him as they led him through the back gate.

"Oh, okay Zim. What kind of 'spaceship' is it?" Greg chuckled then enters the backyard. "One of those slang words for a fancy car?" Greg finally saw the silver white space craft and gawked at the sight.

"No, a real spaceship." Zim corrected him. Greg stared at the ship quickly glance at any part to see it was a ship. His friends, who were sitting at the patio eating sandwiches with Jack, stared at Greg curious of his reaction. Greg didn't say a word. He couldn't.

"Greg, you okay?" Zim asked wearily patting his shoulder. Greg turned around showing Zim, the strangest smile and laughed. He laughed.

"A spaceship! You kids built a spaceship?"

He shouted loud to Zim and everyone's surprise. Dib and Josh nodded while eating. Tina and Brian smiled to Greg while Jack sipped his tea. Greg switches his attention to Zim.

"Why you building a spaceship? Is it for skool? Crazy skool system! Too much for kids to handle these insane projects."

"It's not for skool." Zim uttered softly.

"Well, what's it for?" Greg shouted.

"You have to promise not to flip out or run away or tell anybody." Zim briefly set the terms.

"Yea, whatever. You can trust me, Zim." Greg said then asked once more. "What's it for?"

"It's for me!" Zim suddenly snapped couldn't take the questions and threw his wig on the ground.

"Wh-what?" Greg shouting viewing his antennas bounces up in place. "You bald, Zim!"

"No!" Zim screamed then peeled the contacts from his eyes. "I'm an alien! A-L-I-E-N!"

"He's the I to the R-K-E-N. Boy, this guy is green and buggy. He's Irkenlicious!" Tina sang. "Right, Mary?"

"Heh, yeah." Mary agreed slightly amused by the song.

"You didn't sing it right!" Zim scolded her being off tune.

"Who cares? Do you have a man to retain his sanity?" Tina questioned.

"What?" Zim asked confused. Tina pointed to Greg bringing back on topic. Greg gawked at Zim staring at everything on his face. "Oh right, Greg. I know this is shocking-"

"Damn straight it's shocking! I must be Twilight Zone trippin'!" Greg expressed greatly.

"It's not that surprising!" Zim claimed. "C'mon, think about it. Green kid living by himself in a creepy house you fixed on numerous occasions. Don't tell me you weren't suspicious?"

"Suspicious of what?" Greg wondered having no idea.

"Of what I am! Don't tell me through the years you known me; you never once suspect I was an alien?" Zim shouted trying to accuse Greg. Greg backed away frightened.

"No, I never did. I never judge, I never judge anyone." Greg admitted.

"You never judge anyone, hah, that's a lie!" Zim couldn't believe. Mary grabbed his arm to restrain him from approaching Greg.

"Zim, you need to calm down." Mary raised her voice. "You're scaring him."

Zim saw through his rage a shaky Greg. Zim took a deep breath.

"Excuse us," Mary said then walked Zim to the side of the garage to collect his emotions. Dib stood from his chair to intervene. Greg stared at Zim, Mary whispering to him.

"Greg." Dib spoke his name. Greg jumped startle to the sound of it. "Let me explain, okay?" Greg nodded allowing his explanation. "Zim has been living here a very long time. He's not trying to conquer our planet or abducting people so clear the stereotype from your head right now."

"Okay, gotcha'" Greg agreed while nodding.

"If you are wondering if this is a hoax, it is not. Zim is Irken hail from the planet Irk. There is life throughout the galaxy."

"There is?" Greg asked shocked to the possibility.

"Yes and we need your help. The fate of our planet depends on it."

"My help? How so?" Greg asks. Dib raised an eyebrow to the question.

"The window, remember?" Dib reminded him.

"Oh right, the window for the spaceship…" Greg trailed the sentence looking at the craft. Greg stepped to the spaceship and placed his hand on the left wing. He was in awe of the skill and work done on it. "But I don't understand, why do you kids need a spaceship for our planet?"

"Zim was banished here six years ago and his leaders want him back for a mission he can only do. If he refused, we would have to pay the consequences. He needs to return to complete the mission. That's why we have the spaceship."

"Is Zim returning home?" Greg asked Dib.

"Not on warm terms." Both Greg and Dib turned around seeing it was Zim who spoke in a calmer demeanor. "And I'm not planning to stay either. I want to live here."

"An alien who wants to live on another planet." Jack stated how rare it was.

"It's not so strange." Zim shrugged his shoulders. "People on Earth migrate to other places."

"Not to live out of its own race." Jack replied.

"What can I say? I'm a misfit." Zim said. Greg laughed hearing this.

"I'll say you are." Greg agreed. Greg smiled to Zim. Zim saw it as everything is okay.

"I ended up flipping, didn't I?" Zim questioned the behavior to his friends.

"Just a little." Mary told him. "But it's okay."

"You flipped like a pancake, Zim." Tina told him while Josh shook his head.

"Wigged out is a more correct term." Brian commented.

"Sorry, I-Ummm." Zim tried to find a way to explain his episode. Greg shook his head and grinned.

"I get it. You were nervous. I understand. It must not be easy keeping this secret and telling others. You have to know who to trust. Am I right?"

Zim nodded shocked he really understood. Greg directed to the cockpit and pulled his belt up readjusting his pants.

"Lucky for you 'all, I'm able to keep this under hat. So let's see here." Greg unhooked the measuring tape from his belt. He stretched the tape from the device then searched who was insight to assist him. He saw Mary standing on the other side of the ship. "Mary, could you be a dear and hold the end of this? I need to measure the rim."

"Okay." Mary had no objections. She pinched the end of the tape and stood at the left end where the window would be placed and Greg walked to the right.

"Uh-hmmm…" Greg mumbled and clicked the switch to keep the tape stiff and intact. "I have the measurement. You can let go."

Mary withdrawn her grasp and Greg lifted the tape to top base of the frame to find his last measurement. He wrote them down on his notepad and peered in the cockpit to find the structure thickness.

"Alright. I do have the right size for the job but it will take some time to shape it. Give me three days tops. I'll have it ready by then." Greg estimated.

"Alright by then we will tell Membrane and he'll have the money-"

"Oh no, you can tell him to put his checkbook away." Greg refused kindly. "I'm being a good Samaritan and doing this for free."

"Really, but you said the glass was expensive. We can't-" Zim tried to resist the favor but was elbowed in the process by Dib.

"Quiet, Zim." Dib whispered.

"Yes, the glass was expensive but it's for a good cause. My girlfriend's gonna think I'm crazy. She'll get over it. Better yet, I'll tell her I broke them by accident playing soccer. Right, Dib?"

Dib smirks remembering the fib.

"You kids and your shenanigans. No wonder I've been doing so many house calls. Odd ways of breaking windows. Don't think I didn't notice."

"Thank you for your generosity, Greg." Zim gratefully replied. "You Sir are a good man."

"Good men should be admired not praised. That's what my father told me." Greg quoted his old man. Zim grinned.

"Ahem." Jack cleared his throat to gain Zim's attention. Zim turned around to see Jack stand beside him. "Do you find me trustworthy so I can have my phone? I want to check my email."

Jack reminded Zim he had his phone. Zim reached in his back pocket to receive it.

"I forgot I had this which I really didn't need to. Sorry I misjudged you."

"No problem. My phone, please." Jack persisted. Zim placed the phone directly in his hand. "Thank you." In an instant, Jack held the phone up to Zim's face then clicked the picture. Zim saw a light flash from the phone and lens it had.

"Hey!" Zim protested realizing he snapped the picture.

"Just kidding. See." Jack said showing him the picture. "It came out blurry anyways."

"Hey kids, how are things-"

They heard the voice cease speaking and turned around to see Prof. Membrane standing outside the doorway. They notice the colored blotches of pink, tan and dark blue stained on his white lab coat but didn't bother to ask Membrane who was peculiar to the strangers in his backyard. They heard him shout.

"Media!" To his shout Membrane bended his arms and legs as though he was ready for a fight. "Vultures! Stay back! I know T.V. karate!"

"Dad…" Dib muttered bowing his head embarrassed by his assumptions. "They are not…Media."

"They're not?" Prof. Membrane stopped flexing his poses.

"No, they are here to help with the ship." Dib told him. "They helped us a lot today."

"Oh, you don't say." Membrane said then offered his hand to Jack. "Sorry for the weird introduction. I've have to keep my guard up. This is a secret mission after all."

"I know." Jack said shaking his hand. "But your moves were impressive."

"No, it's was stupid." Membrane said then shook Greg's hand. "Thanks for coming by and aiding in our time of need."

"You're welcome. I had no idea this boy is from outer space." Greg told Membrane.

"You mean Zim? Yes, you get used to his appearance after while." Membrane informed him. "Well, I came out here to check on things but I see you got it under control. I'll be returning to my lab."

"What are you doing, Dad?" Dib questioned curious due to his outfit.

"Something never thought I could ever do ever again." Prof. Membrane said gravely then pepped up. "I'm painting."

"Oh." Dib said a little surprised.

"Thought I take a break before I add my finishing touches. Zim, if you wonder where your robots are, I have them in my lab. They're painting with me."

"Oh okay," Zim said informed.

"Thanks again for your cooperation." Membrane once again thanked his guests. "Good night." Membrane goes inside his house. Zim watched him leave. His friends gather round Greg and Jack thanking them for their assistance. They were joking about the shocking reaction of Zim's appearance but he didn't care to listen. He had something else occupying his mind. Mary leaned on his arm aware of his absent jeers.

"Zim?" Mary whispered grabbing his attention. Zim noticed Mary, haste told her.

"I need to talk to Membrane."

Mary nodded acknowledged what he needed to do and let him leave quietly away from the group. Zim entered the household and found Membrane in the living room walking down the steps to his lab.

"Wait!" Zim called out. Prof. Membrane halted hearing him and wondered why he screamed. Prof. Membrane walked up the steps to meet Zim.

"What is it, Zim?" Membrane pondered to ask.

"I would like to talk to you, something serious." Zim said. Prof. Membrane saw he looked very serious and knowing Zim, it could be. Prof. Membrane nodded agreeing to listen, came into the living room and sat in his armchair. Zim sat on the couch to gain comfort in what he had to say.

"What is it you need to talk about?" Prof. Membrane asked the golden question.

"Well…" Zim said then nervously rubbed his forearm. "I need your help."

"Oh, what is it you need my help with?" Membrane asked casual then a thought occurred to him to leer in the kitchen window. "Are people following you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. You see, I was fired today." He told him the bad news.

"What happened?" Prof. Membrane first thing asked reacting to this news.

"We had conflicting issues and he fired me." Zim summed up.

"Conflicting issues?"

Zim knew he had to explain.

"I didn't want to work the 18th because it's when prom is and I promised Mary I would go and I requested the day off three weeks ago but my former boss wouldn't let me have it so I asked around if anyone could switch shifts. Nobody could. I got into an argument with him and he fired me on the spot."

Membrane thoroughly listens to his side of the story before he spoke.

"I think you did the right thing. What kind of employment doesn't give you the day off when you placed it three weeks in advance?"

"Thank You!" Zim exclaimed. "I knew you would understand."

"Of course I would. I'm a scientist." Membrane proudly stated. "Now back on topic, what is it you need my help?"

"Since I'm leaving in a month, I won't be able to find another job and I-"

"You need money." Prof. Membrane flatly spat out.

"Yes," Zim agreed and quickly said. "But as soon as I find another job, I promise to pay you back every cent I borrowed."

"No, there is no need to. Zim, there's something I have to tell you."

"Huh? What is it?" Zim asked very curious.

"You do have money. Ever since I adopted you, the government has sent me a check every month to help support you but since you were supporting yourself for so long, I thought I save the money I received in a savings account."

"How much you talking?"

"At the end of this month, it will be four thousand and eight hundred dollars." Prof. Membrane roughly rounded. Zim's jaw drops realizing how much he actually has.

"Four thousand and eight hundred dollars! Why didn't you tell me I had that much money?" Zim exclaimed beyond belief.

"You never asked. I assumed you were doing fine. Sure you ask for snacks but never money. So there you are, nothing to worry over." Prof. Membrane stood from his armchair. "We'll talk to the bank tomorrow about setting up a joint account." Prof. Membrane notice how quiet he became and worried. "What's wrong, Zim? Are you excited not to be broke?"

"I am; I just never had anyone do this for me before."

"Take in consideration of your future?" Prof. Membrane took a long shot guess of what he meant.

"Yes and beyond it. Thank you." He spoke humbled.

"Not a problem. Any good parent would do that." Membrane bragged while walking to the foot entrance of his lab. "Hey, want to take a gander at my painting and your robots' too."

"Sure, okay." Zim said then stood up and walked with Membrane to his lab.

"What it all you wanted to discuss?" Prof. Membrane asked what else would concern him.

"No, nothing else." He responded.

"Are you sure?" Prof. Membrane persisted in asking.

"Yes." Zim assured.

"Well okay." Prof. Membrane let him off the hook of anymore questions and turned the door knob. In an instant, Minimoose flew to Zim in occurrence of entering the lab. Minimoose squealed while Zim patted his head. Gir ran up to see him.

"Zim!" Gir screamed then reached his arms up in signal he desired to be picked up. Zim followed his instruction. "I found the right color for you!" Before Zim could protest, Gir smeared a light green stroke upon his cheek.

"Gir!" Zim shouted then used his backhand to wipe it off. Zim studied the shade contrast to his skin. "You're a little off. Needs to be darker." Zim put Gir down. He giggled at his comment and smiled. "It's camouflage."

"Camouflage, for what?" Zim asked.

"For your mission. Minimoose and I could wear paint and blend in and sneak attacks." Gir told Zim putting a lot of thought in his plan. Zim sighed.

"For the last time Gir, you and Minimoose are not coming with me. I have to go alone."

"Why not?" He whined.

"It's too dangerous."

"Then that's why me and Minimoose will be for. Don't you think we make great helpers?"

"I do but-"

"Why not?"

"You just can't, okay?" Zim snapped. He saw he made Gir cry watching a tear drop bloom from his eye. Zim groaned to the fact he hurt Gir's feelings.

"Gir, you and Minimoose should go outside and see Dib. He might give you cookies." Membrane tempted them.

"Cookies!" Gir peeped and ran out with Minimoose.

"Have you told them why they can't come?" Membrane wondered to Zim.

"Yes, I told them several times because they are made of Irken technology and the risk of them being targets is extremely high. All I know is they attack life support systems. They could attack robots too. I told them but they don't want to believe it." Zim assumed why Gir keep stressing to go with him.

"They're just worried." Membrane stated.

"Yeah, I would be too." Zim accepted this insight as fact. Membrane showed Zim his painting. It was the drawing of an inside of a stomach containing what appears to be a human brain.

"Behold; I call it Brain inside Stomach. The stomach controls the mind but the mind feeds you."

"Wow, it's kind of strange in a weird way. I like it. It's original." Zim expressed his view of the painting.

"You do, huh?" Prof. Membrane proudly boasted.

"Yeah," Zim backed his opinion.

"Professor Membrane, scientist and artist. I have to show everyone!" Membrane held his painting carefully and ran outside his lab. Zim watched him run off and sighed seeing the mess down here. The mess his robots made with the paints. Zim put the tops back on the water colored paints in an attempt to clean up. In his tidy performance, Zim spied a picture Gir painted. He knew it was his because it was sloppy. Minimoose always drew neat. It was a picture of him wearing a cape standing with Gir and Minimoose outside. Gir drew him with antennas and ant eyes. He drew him in a crowd of stick figure people. Zim thought it was a silly drawing and stacked them with the others from the floor. He picked up and carried them out of the lab. The picture was on top of the pile giving Zim a chance to view it deeply. He reached the top of the steps and slapped the pictures on the end table beside the couch. He grunted.

"I'm no hero."

He left the pictures on the end table to meet everyone in the backyard disguising his shame like a well fit mask.

* * *

Author's notes: I have a proposition for my readers. Throughout writing this chapter, I wondered what I would name the ship. Something cool anyone would name it. A ship has to have a name, right? Anyhow, I have no good names. If you could give me a name and explanation why it should be called that, I will include it in the story, next chapter to be precise. In the time being enjoy this little story my sister wrote on a whim one day. Like always, the shorts are not part of the story. Especially this one, you will know why once you read it. It's just really funny shit. Let me say that. Now I present to you to enjoy, my sister's creation:

A Wonderful Spoof: When I was Horny in a Shack.

It was a early autumn day and the cold breeze of winter started to knock on the back of Zim's bedroom window. He woke up, wondering why the window was open all night. To this consent, he called Gir to come upstairs. Gir on the other hand, did not respond to his master's demand. Gir was dreaming about cupcakes and moose. Zim was getting up, to shut his window. As Zim was about to shut his window, he noticed Mary walking down the street. Then hornyness arouse in Zim. Hoping Mary would not notice him and his boner, he shut the window, and closed the blinds. Mary noticed Zim in the window being horny, but she had no time to deal with his rapyness. She on the other hand, was not horny. She wasn't even amused. Zim sat on his bed, thinking about how hot Mary would look in a bikini. Then he realized, it was autumn. He was sad. He got dressed in his regular human clothes, and grabbed a scarf as he ran out the door. Zim decided to take a walk, and try to find Mary, and accidentally run into her. Zim forgot he was dating her, so he tried to play it cool. The breezing pre-winter air chilled Zim's skin, cause he was not wearing a jacket. He even forgot his shoes. His hornyness has taken over his brain! He was now a fumbling fool that was controlled by his penis. Zim had no condoms… he was not planned to have sex. He was thinking about how they do have sex. The how part bothered Zim. Like any good friend, Zim ran to Dib's house, and started to rummaged through Dib's porno magazines. There was no luck of any playboy.

"Where is your pornos? I need to know how sex is preformed."

"Zim, it's six A.M. Have you forgotten you burned all my naughty pornos? You asshole. Ever since you burned them, I had to jack off to pictures in the yearbook!"

"I need to know how sex goes Dib. Can you tell me?"

"Zim, I'm a virgin. But I heard from the experts at skool that you get a hard penis and you put it in the hole."

"Hole?"

"Yes, a hole in the lady."

Zim was confused at Dib's advice, so he ran out of his house. Zim now knew you could not get advice from another horny man. That was just wrong. Two horny people do not make a right. As he walked around the neighborhood, he noticed a pretty lady. Zim, did not like the pretty lady, he only like the girl he liked, which was Mary. He did not find the pretty lady in a short skirt attractive. It turned him off.

"Why would ladies wear such revealing clothes, if you're giving all the surprise of a naked girl in your bed?" He thought.

Zim passed the hot girl, and flipped her off. The hot girl shook her head, and continued to walk the stretch in her high heels. Zim walked a very long time, and now regretted getting rid of his PAK containing his daddy long legs.

'Why did I get rid of them? Walking sucks.' He thought.

He walked such a long time that he forgot why he even was walking around. Then he saw Mary. Walking her fine ass to her house.

"HORNY!" Screamed Zim.

Mary knew it was Zim, but did not make any advances towards him, instead she kept on walking. 'Just ignore him, Mary.' She thought. 'He'll leave...'

"OHHHHHH MMMAAARRRYYYY! GOT A SURPRISE FOR YOU! It's…. Ummm what do girls like.. oh yeah, A BOOK!"

"Zim, you don't have a book."

"BUT MARRRRRRYYYYY…."

"Zim, NO!"

"Mary, I'm horny for you!"

As Zim yelled this out loud, Mary saw the front door to her house open. Her dad came out, and had a disturbed look on his face, which turned to anger. Mary stood there, and slowly backed away from her dad. Zim ran towards Mary.

"MARY! I think your dad heard.."

Mary's dad had a rage face on.. A fffffuuuuuu face that was scarlet red. He went back in the house, but came out with a belt in his hand. Zim and Mary walked away, and started to run away from him.

"You know Mary, he was only mad at me. You could go back if you want to."

"Zim, you don't know my Dad. He will beat you in the middle of the street and make me watch."

"He's not nice…."

As Zim and Mary ran down the street, Zim saw the hot chick going down the same path as him. A collision waiting to happen. When Zim ran down the street past the hot chick, he flipped her off again. The hot chick remembered who that was, and threw a rock at his head. Zim got powned. Zim fell on the cement, and Mary just walked on, ignoring Zim's cries for help. she left Zim and let the hot chick beat the shit outta him. She walked to Dib's house. After a couple of minutes of Zim getting beating up by the chick, he made his way on his feet, and started to limp towards Mary.

"MARY! I'm still horny!"

Mary looked back, and ran towards Dib's house. She started to ring his door bell, no answer. Zim got closer. Mary knew this was the way she was going to die, so she banged on Dib's door as an attempt to get him to open his door.

"Mary, why you so difficult?"

"DIB! DIB! ZIM! Hes… HORNY!"

Dib's door opened, only to find Gaz's face. Mary stared at the girl's darkened face, and Gaz let her in. As Zim finally got to the door of Dib's house, Gaz kicked Zim in the shin of the good leg, and shut the door. Zim fell, he was now hurting in both legs. Mary sat down in the living room where a couch was. Gaz screamed at Dib to come down.

"DIB! You have a visitor! And a pathetic alien in a fetal position on the porch!"

"OH! You mean zim?"

"CLEAN HIM UP! My boyfriend is coming over soon, and I don't want him to see THAT on the porch!"

Dib came down the stairs and seen Mary on the couch.

"So, he told you."

"Yup."

"He told me this morning how to… _sex_. He wanted to see my playboy, but he must of forgot he set fire to it in his backyard. Ever since that day, I had to look at yearbooks."

Mary said nothing, but her face expressed her words, and her thought. Then she finally said something.

"Hey, as long as your not jacking off to my photo, I'm fine with that."

Xen arrived to the lot, and peered out of the window, only to find an alien who soiled himself. Xen parked his car, shut the door, and slowly walked around Zim. He rung the door bell, waiting for Gaz to open it. As he waited he decided to make small talk with Zim.

"soooo…. Hows your day so far?" Xen said.

Zim looked dead, and disorganized. He was drooling out of his mouth, and slowly turned his head to make eye contact with Xen.

"My day is fine, just came here to pick up Gaz and take her paintball shooting. Hey, you look like you've been in the dumps. Wanna come with?"

As Zim was about to answer, Gaz opened the door. She kicked Zim aside.

"I'm sorry little dude, but I have to go."

Gaz and Xen jumped over Zim and headed towards his car. They took off, leaving Zim to lay there. Meanwhile inside, Dib and Mary were eating snacks and watching a movie, and forgot Zim was outside in pain.

"What did Gaz want me to do at the front porch again. Help a stranded kitten maybe? Well, I better help that kitten."

As Dib wacked open the door, Zim cried in pain.

"What is with this door? Why is is so creaky, and whining?"

As he closed the door to examine the hinges, he noticed Zim, in a fetal position, drooling, and crying.

"HA! Wimp."

Zim reached for Dib's hand to help him up, Dib said...

"Yeah, nice to meet you. I would like to help you with your… hurting… but I need to rescue a stray cat, Gaz told me to."

Dib ran off trying to look for the stray cat. He never found it. Mary finally came out of Dib's house, and peered at Zim. Zim looked at her.

"Mary.. Sex in a shack?"

Mary shook her head.

"No Zim, no sex in a shack."

She grabbed his mangeled arm, and helped him up. Zim never got sex in a shack, instead he got friendship, and a helping hand...

"I don't want friendship. I'm still horny."

"If I were you, I would shut up about your hornyness, don't make me sick my dad on you."

The End


	39. Rockin' at the Best Prom Ever!

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 39: Rockin' at the Best Prom Ever!

"Blue or Black? Pick one Mary." Tina presented the gown selections. Mary shook her head.

"I don't like either of them." Mary admitted. She glanced at the long blue dress. "The blue dress is too traditional." Then at the black short dress. "And the black one is too short."

"Well, you have to pick something." Tina sigh her annoyance. "We've been here for like a half an hour. I know this dance is important but for God's sake, pick a dress already! I chose mine." Tina held the teal blue short flowing dress in her arms. They were in J.C. Enney selecting the perfect dress for one of the most important occasions in their young lives. Prom, which is tomorrow evening.

"Maybe if you let me browse and pick, we would be done sooner." Mary defended her rights to choose her own dress. Tina frowned when she became assertive in the grouchiest way.

"I was trying to help." Tina softly spoke. Mary sighed.

"I know, I'm sorry." Mary atone her attitude. Mary approached the next rack to find a dress. Tina leaned upon the shelf of hanging dresses letting her browse.

"So are you excited for Prom?" Tina glanced to Mary.

"It's going to be at our skool, right?" Mary wondered if the location was correct.

"Yep, in our gym. Magical. Couldn't they rent out a ballroom or convention hall? Anything better than the gym." Tina whined.

"I don't care where as long as I spend the night with Zim." Mary said and sighed lightly.

"Are you guys gonna do it?"Tina smirked. Mary's face brightened up.

"No. We, we are not." Mary shyly replied. "How can you suggest we…We're not prepared for that. We only been together three months."

"So, I see the way you act together. I figure you do it by now."

"If we were to 'do it', we would discuss it first and decide if we are ready or not. Zim's not like human boys." Mary commented greatly on Zim's maturity.

"Yo, whatever, I'd advise on dealing with your mixed feeling before he goes away." Tina warned her. Mary turned around to gaze in the rack ignoring her suggestion. Tina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms waiting for Mary. Mary peered into the circular tall racks one after another until she found the perfect dress. It was magnolia white, long and slender with straps which hugs the neck upon the shoulders.

"It's beautiful." Mary exclaimed. Tina viewed the color.

"It's white. You and Zim have a thing for white?" Tina asked and shook her head. "Come on, try it on and see if it fits." Mary followed Tina to the dressing room.

"What do you think the guys are doing?" Mary asked her.

"Probably checking out the spaceship. The glass is being delivered today. They have to set it up." As Tina spoke, at the Membrane residence, Dib, Zim, Brian, Josh and Greg stood outside the spaceship.

"My fucking God!" Josh exclaimed. "We did it!"

"Do you kiss your Mama with that mouth?" Greg scolded the slur.

"No, sorry Sir." Josh recognized he was offended and apologized. Greg nodded accepting it.

"Well, Zim, the window should sustain effectively in space."

"I believe so too. Thanks again for your help." Zim told Greg.

"Not a problem. It was kind of fun." Greg admitting to the joys of helping build a spaceship. "Like a child-like fantasy come to life."

"'Child-like fantasy?'" Josh questioned. "It was a lot of hard work. I would be surprised if this thing flies."

"Yep, it will be rewarding." Brian saw it in a positive viewpoint.

"So, when are you leaving Zim?" Greg asks.

"With the current speed of the ship thanks to Jack's booster, I'm safe to leave the last day of skool. After the last day of skool to be exact. I should be able to reach Meekrob in two weeks. Either way, I'll be early."

"Tell me when you're leaving on your big adventure. I want to say good bye." Greg told him.

"Yeah, sure. I will." Zim vaguely promised.

"Okay, see you later." Greg said picking up his tool box. He left the backyard. The boys awe in wonder of their completed project.

"Cool, now it's complete." Josh said. "We have to party."

"The Prom isn't until tomorrow." Brian stated.

"Dude, I know. We celebrate." Josh still suggested to his friends.

"Why, we haven't test drive it yet."

"I agree with Brian," Dib said. "We can't celebrate without a proper fly test. Then we'll know."

"Go for it, Brian." Zim commented.

"For real?" Brian unsure to sustain his glee.

"Yep, when it's dark out at nine. It's dark around nine, right?"

"Yes," Brian eagerly answered.

"Okay, until then let's bullshit." Zim said and opened a box of soda he set out earlier next to the door step. Zim tore it open and threw one at Dib, then to Brian and Josh. He sat at the stoop and Dib joined him while Josh sat in a patio chair. Brian sat on the grass to complete their circle. Zim opened the can of poop soda. He enjoyed how warm the mid spring air felt. Not to hot or cold. Just perfect, the breeze felt pleasant on his skin. He smirked surprise how the little things on this planet seems so peaceful. Then his concentration broke when Brian let out a huge burp.

"Nice one!" Dib praised the action while Josh laughed. Brian pounds his chest and hick-upped.

"It needed to come out." Brian said.

"You know what came out, the tie my Dad found for me to wear at Prom." Dib announced. "He told me he wore it when he went to Prom. And all these years he was telling me he was doing this and that at my age. How the heck would he have time for Prom if he was exploring the Amazon finding a cure for juvenile diabetes?"

"Don't know. I just don't know." Zim said. "At least the suits we picked out were brand new."

"You got to pick your tie." Dib whined.

"And I enjoyed my selection." Zim grinned rubbing it in his face.

"Hey, shut up, rich kids!" Josh shouted to his bickering. "My suit is old and proud of it!"

"No, you're not." Brian stated.

"Am so." Josh said. "When my Dad gave me the suit, I earned more than just a handy down. I earned my father's respect."

"How?" Brian wondered. Josh smiled to what he was about to say like he was ready to tell a funny joke. "When he gave me the suit, he looked me straight in the eyes and said, 'Son, you are becoming a man. Now, I'm going to pass down an old tradition my father has did, from his father and his father.' Then my Dad handed me a pack of condoms and said, 'Use them for your first time.' And you know what I said?" His friends shook their head anticipated in his answer. "I already did and took two from the pack!"

The guys' jaws dropped hearing this.

"How did you steal them under your Dad?" Dib asked with robust excitement.

"I didn't have to. He leaves shit on the floor all the time. I found them on my parent's room next to the door and snagged a couple. I didn't think they would notice."

"What did your Dad say?" Brian asked.

"That's the best part; he patted me on the back and praised me. That is how I gained respect from my father."

"That's a pretty funny story." Zim chuckled. "So I'm assuming you guys…"

"Yep, I rode her like an elephant in heat."

"Well, I'm scarred for life." Zim comment after imagining Josh humping Tina like a sex crazed mammal. "What else is new?"

"Hey Zim, have you done it with Mary?" Josh dared to ask. Dib and Brian eagerly awaited his answer.

"Noooo…" Zim stretched. "And why would I tell you?"

"Eh, I don't know. Thought I ask." Josh didn't deny being curious.

"For your information, Mary's a gentle, sweet girl I wouldn't ride around not even close like an elephant!" Zim pronounced.

"Well okay." Josh said to that then turned to the human guys, Brian and Dib. "Yeah, doing it is awesome but second best to sex is fondling."

"Oh yeah…" Brian agreed. "I like them round."

"I like them big but not too big. Cup them right in my hands." Dib said from past experience.

"What the blazes are you talking about?" Zim butted in. The guys glanced at him as if he was foolish.

"Dude, boobs." Josh said. "Yah know, breasts. What girls have."

"Ohhh…" Zim said. "Those huh? What's so great about those to discuss in such depth?"

"What's so great?" Josh shouted in disbelief. "Zim! You should know how great breasts are!"

"How would I know?" Zim questioned.

"Whoa, whoa, let me get this straight." Josh stood up. "Zim, you never cop a feel?"

"Cop a feel?" Zim questioned the definition.

"Touch boobs?" Josh clarified.

"No, I have not."

"What kind of man are you?" He questioned his masculinity. Zim stood up and shouted.

"I am a man and I don't need to touch woman booby tissue to prove it!"

Dib saw this as his chance to intervene and explain to Josh.

"Zim never was interested in boobs." Zim stared at Dib wondering how he would know. "He comes from a society where females are flat-chested thus, not having the desire to touch them. It's as simple as genetics."

"That's right." Zim agreed. "Don't blame me; it's just how I was born. Women don't have breasts on my planet."

"Whatever." Josh couldn't accept as an excuse. "I would have at least thought you were curious. If I was on another planet, I would tap hot alien chicks."

"It may be what you do but it can't be enjoyable to the other gender." Zim said. "I seen on TV guys touching girls' breasts and they get smacked for it. Girls can't possibly like being…"

"Groped." Josh filled in the blank. "And yes they do, Zim. By their lovers."

Zim expressed a blanked stare not sure how to rebuttal in human intimacy. Something he thought he knew but completely blown by the subject of fondling.

"What do you do with Mary anyways?" Josh asked.

"It's none of your business." Zim grunted glaring at him.

"Fine." Josh easily let go of the topic. Although the conversation was over, many questions riddled Zim's mind. Was he intimate enough with Mary? Intimate enough to be considered a man? How wonderful do breasts feel? While the guys talked about the latest video games, Zim remained silent having not much to say. He sat there drinking his soda not wanting to be labeled a fool. Then Gaz appeared on the top door step. She stared down at the guys drinking soda.

"So that's where all the soda went." Gaz growled and stole a can out of the box.

"It's not your soda, Gaz." Dib whined. "Tell her, Zim."

"She can have one." Zim responded.

"Thanks." Gaz grunted. She opened the can and had a big gulp. Zim glanced at her, then to her chest where her breasts were present in the purple short dress she wore. He glanced up at her again.

"Gaz, do you like being fondled?" Zim asked. Gaz spat out soda hearing his question. His friends couldn't believe it came out of his mouth. Dib was purely shocked. Gaz slowly turned her head glaring at poor clueless Zim. At that moment, he knew he was in danger.

"No! please don't kill me!" Zim pleaded as he stood up and backed away. Gaz shook up her soda and sprayed it at Zim. Then when she ran out to spray and Zim was rolling on the grass, she threw the empty can at his head. When he stopped fizzing and ceased his fussing, Gaz stood over Zim and picked him up by collar of his shirt.

"Do you like girls yanking your dick hitting you?" Gaz snarled a more awkward question.

"I don't know!" Zim screamed honestly.

"Then shut up!" Gaz screamed and slammed his head on the ground. Gaz stepped off him and glanced at the guys. "Got any more questions for me?"

They shook their heads to avoid her wrath. Gaz rolled her eyes hearing Zim groan on the ground behind her.

"Anyways, I came here to see if there's anything I can do to help but you guys seem to be on your lazy asses."

"The ship is done." Dib stated. "We are waiting until dark to test drive it."

"Hmmmp." Gaz grunted to the excuse. "You don't have to wait until dark."

"It needs to be dark or else we'll get attention from the military." Josh shouted the risk.

"Like I said, it doesn't need to be dark. They will still spot you." Gaz pointed out. "You might as well fly it."

"How about at least dusk?" Brian offered a compromise to them.

"Whatever." Gaz said then helped herself to another can of soda before she went inside. She walked into the living room. In coincidence, Mary and Tina were there.

"Oh, hi Gaz." Tina greeted her. "Did you see the ship yet?"

Gaz shrugged her shoulders then walked towards Mary. She put her hand on Mary's shoulder and looked her in the eyes.

"Mary, he's curious. Beware." Gaz only said and left up the stairs.

"What was that?" Mary questioned what she warned her for.

"I don't know but it sounds scary." Tina said. They walked wearily into the backyard. They saw the guys sitting at the patio except for Zim standing up brushing grass blades off his shirt. Mary saw his first degree burns blotched face.

"What happened?" Mary gasped.

"Nothing, nothing happened." Zim quickly yelped.

"Yea, nothing." Dib covered Zim's and his sister's twisted encounter. Mary glared at them believing they had something to do with this.

"I'll go get the ointment." Mary offered then Zim caught her hand.

"It will heal quickly. Don't worry about it." Zim told her. "We are testing the ship soon. Do you want to see?"

Mary nodded.

"Wow, it looks like a real spaceship." Tina exclaimed seeing the dark glass installed on the vessel.

"Now if it flies, we know it is one." Dib commented.

"Okay, it's getting dark. I'm flying it." Brian decided then turned to Zim. "You wanna come with?"

"Sure." Zim agreed and walked with Brian into the ship and shut the latch. He heard his friends call out good luck and have a nice trip through the titanium walls. They enter the cockpit and Zim gaze at the controls Brian and Josh created. Brian sat in the only available driver's seat while Zim loom over him. Brian sought it as an opportunity to show him how to fly. He turned the engine key, pumped the throttle and pressed the button for bottom boosters. He switched the parking brake to neutral. When he saw it safe, he retracted the shock absorbers. Outside the ship, his friends saw it hover. Then he put it on drive.

"Alright, hold on to something." Brian warned him and in a second flat he pumped the throttle, pushed the lever to high speed and they flew up in the sky. Zim held on the back seat as he plummeted on his butt from the force of the lift off. When Brian reached high altitude, he switched to back boosters and zoomed by their neighborhood at great speed. Zim screamed.

"Briaaaaan! Braaakkkkeeeessss!"

Brian slowed down the momentum before tugging the lever to brake. Zim felt his squeedlyspooch caught up with him and became sick. Zim held his mouth but felt it come up anyways and retched on the floor. Brian heard him toss his cookies or should I say soda and tilted to him bewildered he did.

"An alien becoming air sick in a spaceship. This is a first." Brian responds to his sickness.

"You went too fast." Zim finally said then gagged. Brian shrugged his shoulders not minding the smell.

"The ship works, let's head back." Brian suggested seeing Zim ill. Brian slowly picked up speed as he pushed the lever forward then pressed the left peddle with his foot to make the ship turn left and flew slower to Dib's house. Above the residence, Brian switches on the bottom boosters and off the back and gently floated down. He pressed a button for the shock absorbers to land, switch to park and turned off the engine to complete the landing. Below them, they heard their friends cheer. One of them opened the latch, but Brian warned them not to enter and pointed to the accident on the floor. Zim ran out of the ship to the house holding mouth. They stared at him as he ran. Dib shook his head seeing the large puddle of brown spit up.

"I'll go get the hose." Dib flatly spoke and dragged his heals as he fetched the hose to clean up Zim's mess. While Dib was spraying inside the cockpit, his friends were in the kitchen. Zim was sitting at the table holding his belly. Mary sat towards him holding his hand asking what she could do to help. His friends, however, could care less for Zim's health and talked eager how fast the ship took off.

"Wow, just wow!" Josh cheered. "When I saw it take off, I couldn't believe it! It flew, it actually flew!"

"Yes, the first successful test flight." Brian boasted being a part of the experience.

"Yeah, it was amazing! I want a turn in it!" Tina shouted.

"None of you gets a turn!" From the shadows call out and stepped in Gaz. "For it is me to fly it next."

"What?" Josh and Tina shouted on cue.

"Zim said I could, right Zim?" Gaz smirked to Zim. He just nodded not able to speak.

"Alright, you heard him." Gaz said.

"He could have nodded to us." Josh persisted.

"Like hell he was!" Gaz doubted. When Dib entered the kitchen, he heard the loud bickering shouting at each other who had the right to fly the ship. Dib sighed then screamed.

"Hey! QUUIEEETTT!"

They stopped, surprised how annoying his screech was.

"Have you forgotten? This isn't a toy. It's a ship, Zim's ship and he needs to know how to fly it in order to make the trip safely."

They direct their attention to Zim, who wiped the sweat from his forehead and gave Mary her handkerchief. He was greener than usual.

"Are you okay?" Tina asked concern.

"I will be. Just queasy. I need to lie down." Zim said then held his head. "It's been so long since I flew in any aircraft."

"Sorry, I flew too fast." Brian apologized.

"It's alright. You were excited. I would be too." Zim admitted. "Gaz, you can fly it next. See if it holds in great speed but be careful."

Gaz nodded and marched outside the kitchen. Brian followed along to show Gaz the controls. Dib let them pass by him then glanced to Zim.

"Do you need to go home?" Dib asked.

"I can give you a ride." Tina offered.

"I don't think so." Josh said. Tina glared at Josh. "What, he'll throw up in your car."

"I'll lie on the couch." Zim said and walked into the living room with Mary beside him. Zim carefully sat on the couch then laid on it. Mary held his hand while she sat to his hip. Zim rediscovered the worried expression upon her face.

"Is that better?" Mary asked the condition of the new position is helping.

"Yes, it is." Zim said. "Did you enjoy the take off?"

"Yes, but I was a little scared." Mary said and glanced away.

"Were you worried it would fail?"

"I was worried you get hurt." Mary said.

"I was too." Zim said and gripped her hand a little tighter.

"I picked out my dress today." Mary said to change the subject.

"Is it beautiful?" Zim asked.

"Yes." Mary replied.

"I can't wait to see it." Zim said then smiled. Mary exchanges the same kind smile and gently rubbed her hand on Zim's belly. Zim liked how comforting it was and let her glide her hand over his shirt. He enjoyed it so much it reached the point of arousal. Zim sat up quickly recognizing the feeling then held his mouth. It wasn't what he thought it was. Zim gagged and ran upstairs leaving Mary very confused and guilty for what she done to make him sick. When Zim return from the bathroom, he decided to go home and rest descent in his bed. Mary apologized believing she was the cause but Zim refused and told her she wasn't. Mary accompanied Zim home because he didn't want a ride from Tina knowing he would yak in her car. Mary kissed Zim good night on the cheek to return to Dib's house. Zim rested that night and the following morning in his room. After a night's sleep, he felt better yet wanted to make sure he was well for Prom at skool tonight. The plan was soon to take effect. At six o'clock, Prof. Membrane will drive Dib and Zim to Mary's house to pick her up then they will be dropped off at skool. Tina, Josh, Brian and his date Penny will drive in the same car and meet them at skool. It came according to plan as Zim and Dib prepared dressing in their black formal suits. Zim wore a button up white shirt under his black overcoat wearing a dark red bow tie. He wore black slacks and shoes. Dib wore a darker version of the suit and wore a long black tie. Dib tugged at the tie while in the living room after Prof. Membrane helped him tie it correctly.

"The way I dress, it feels like I'm attending a funeral." Dib commented. Zim chuckled spying his outfit and deep raven black color of it.

"Now, now, this is your Prom. You shouldn't talk like that." Prof. Membrane tries to lift his spirits and then snatched his digital camera from the table. "Let's take a picture of you two."

"Oh no, Dad, a picture, come on-" Dib refused.

"Uh, bu, bu," Prof. Membrane hushed him. "It is my parental duty to commemorate this moment in photograph. So group together and say cheese."

Zim stepped closer to Dib and smiled at Membrane. Dib smiled to his father. Prof. Membrane snapped the picture and put the camera in his inner lab coat pocket.

"Good, let's pick up Mary." Prof. Membrane said then opened the front door. Dib and Zim followed Prof. Membrane to the family car. Membrane sat in the driver seat while Dib took front passenger and Zim sat in the back holding a yellow corsage flower he chose for Mary on his lap. They drove out of their neighborhood into another. Zim pointed to Membrane the way to Mary's house and found it promptly. When Membrane parked, Zim stepped out of the car. He approached the front door and knocked. Prof. Weylin answered. He glared at Zim then realized he dressed nice for the occasion.

"Okay, so here's the deal." Prof. Weylin said. "She is to be home right after Prom. Ten-thirty sharp. Not a minute longer."

"Yes Sir, Membrane will be dropping her off too so we won't be late." Zim informed him.

"Good, as long as we agree." Prof. Weylin accepted and allows Zim to enter his house then he saw her. Mary stood by the stairway wearing her hair down in a long flowing white dress. The dress seems to simmer when Zim gazed upon it, upon her.

"She's so beautiful." Zim expressed out loud what he was thinking. Prof. Weylin glanced at Zim hearing his statement.

"Ten-thirty P.M. Remember that." Prof. Weylin warned him.

"Yes Sir." Zim complied. He step to Mary and offered her the corsage. "You're lovely."

"You're handsome." Mary stated. "Is that for me?" She gazed at the pretty flowers.

"Yes." Zim said and took it from the plastic case. He slipped it on her right hand. The colors glow yellow of tiny rose buds and daisies. "I thought you like yellow. It is your favorite color."

"How did you guess?" Mary asked, who never told him.

"You don't have to tell me. I can tell." Zim remarked. Mary chuckled and wrapped her arm around his. He was to escort Mary to the car when Prof. Weylin stood before them with a camera.

"You can't go anywhere without a picture of my little girl. Zim, you stand over there." Prof. Weylin pointed to the wall.

"Dad, let Zim be part of the picture." Mary asked of him.

"Mary, he can't." Prof. Weylin protested.

"Please?" Mary asked sweetly.

"Oh, alright." Prof. Weylin gave in and steadies the camera up to his face. They both smiled on the count of three and he took their photo. "You kids have a good time." Zim led Mary to Membrane's car.

"This must be the only time everyone takes my picture." Zim commented.

"It's tradition." Mary said.

"I suppose like Christmas and Thanksgiving." Zim remembered the last holidays his picture was taken. He allowed anyways. Zim opened the car door for Mary and let her in first then he sat beside her. He shut the door and they were off to the skool. When they entered campus, the parking lot was a disaster. Crowded with parents dropping off kids and students who drove. When Membrane found a place to let them out, Dib, Zim and Mary exit the car.

"I'll be here at exactly ten to pick you up. Have fun." Membrane said and drove away. They waved good bye as he did. They arrived at the front entrance of the auditorium slash gym. Above the entrance, hung a banner reading Junior Prom Night in bold pink letters.

"Well no freakin' duh." Dib stated peering at the banner. Zim and Mary shrugged their shoulders not finding the banner redundant.

"Hey guys!"

They turned their heads to see Tina waving to them. They dodged their classmates to meet their friends. They peered at Tina's teal medium length dress. She wore her hair down and in curls. Zim glanced to Josh's golden white suit, a gold tie and a white rose in his left pocket.

"That's a handy down?" Zim questioned the well condition of the suit.

"It's a little big on me but it fits." Josh said then Zim glanced at Brian, him wearing a dark brown suit and his date Penny. She was somewhat short, shorter than Brian who wore a light pink dress and white high heels. She also wore a pink bow in her long brown hair. Her peachy skin reflects her bubbly personality.

"Hi guys." Penny spoke. "Y'all look great. Oh, I've been looking forward to this night in like forever ever since the first poster came up. This is going to be great!"

"Yep, we're all here." Brian said counting heads. "Let's go inside."

"Let's get this over with." Dib muttered. They walked together to the auditorium. Zim held Mary to one side; to the other he heard Dib complaining. "Remind me again why I'm here?"

"Because I asked you and you said yes." Zim said waiting in line along with their friends.

"And you know why I had to say yes? Because you bought me a ticket. I wouldn't have been obligated to agree if you didn't make me."

"Dib, quit your sniveling whine and enjoy the evening." Zim said to that.

"But I would be having a good time at home, watching Mysterious Mysteries."

"You would rather be home watching re-runs than go to a party?"

"Yes."

"Don't kid yourself. That's a boring good time. Too easy to achieve. Why don't you branch out and dance with new people."

"New people? Zim, these are our classmates. Our classmates, Zim! They are not new people." Dib reminded him. Zim shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever." Zim said and gave both his and Mary's ticket to an adult supervisor. Dib followed the same motion and gave him the ticket. The lighting was dim to the point of setting the mood of a formal dance. The bleachers were pulled into the walls. Foldable tables and chairs surround them like an outer layer. Along the right was the long snack table displaying chips, pretzels, mini-candies in large crystal plastic bowls and the punch bowl next to plastic red cups, plates and napkins. Balloons hang from the ceiling in different shades of white, gray and blue. The auditorium were full of all their classmates and to the other side of the room was the stage where the DJ resign to offer the mad beats. On the left wall, there was a yellow paper sign which read pictures and pointed to the other room inside the auditorium. Tina gasped reading the sign and grabbed Josh by the arm.

"Pictures!" She squealed. "Come on, Josh." Josh grumbled under his breath and was dragged into the room.

"Again with the pictures." Zim leered suspicious of the poster.

"Wow, the Prom committee really out did themselves. I wonder how they got the balloons to hang from the ceiling. Let's find a table to sit at." Penny suggested. Brian nodded and they walked along the selection. They found the next available table and pulled up two more chairs for Tina and Josh. The lights shut off to turn on the strobe lighting and the music became louder. The majority of their classmates dance to the latest song on the radio the DJ played while the others stood near the snack bar. Dib glanced around the room and spacious dance floor.

"Maybe Prom won't be lame." Feeling optimistic, Dib stepped on the dance floor then a huge boy from his history class approach Dib and blocked his path. The boy screamed in his face.

"Yeaaahhh! Prooom! Whoa hoo! Dib, where's your date? That's right! Loser, loser! Ha, ha!"

The boy ran to his friends and pumped fists with them. Their dates laughed at the antic. Dib scorned at him then muttered.

"I'm going to the snack bar."

Zim really wanted to sock one to the guy who made Dib miserable but remembered he was at skool. He had to let it go. Besides, he was with Mary and Dib will get over whatever that imbecile said. Brian and Penny enter the dance floor and shook their bodies like they were doing the mamba. Zim found it strange and soon realized he didn't know how to dance to anything especially pop.

"Uh, Mary." Zim whispered to her. "You don't mind I'm a horrible dancer?"

"Oh Zim, everyone else is." Mary motioned to strange shuffles of his classmates. He even spotted someone jolting his arms and legs like he was made of metal. "Let's just have fun with it."

Mary tugged Zim onto the dance floor and they started jiggling their arms and legs like their classmates. Tina jumped into their dance and joined them with Josh. Dib return to their barren table holding a cup and plate of junk food watching his friends dancing clueless to what they were doing was a dance. Dib shook his head, sat down and ate some chips and pretzels. After dancing to a few songs, Tina and Josh decided to take a break and sit with Dib seeing how he's doing.

"Hey, Dib, having fun?" Tina asked.

"Does it look like I'm having fun?" Dib threw the question back at her.

"Me-oowww!" Tina screech. "Watch the bad attitude! This is my night."

"Dib, don't be a downer." Josh scolded Dib. "Go out there and dance."

Dib rolled his eyes and knew he was right. Came to the event, he might as well dance. Dib stood up out of his seat then the song ended and switched to a slow light beat. The setting of the light changed to dim. Dib sat back in his seat.

"Too late. It's a slow song." Dib said and stared into the crowd. There, he saw Zim dancing with Mary, arms wrapped around and pressed on her back. Mary too was leaning into Zim while taking their steps. Tina and Josh saw how affectionate they were in the dance.

"Wow, the next time we see them dance like this is at their wedding." Tina said. Dib swiftly turn his head.

"Wedding? Uh-uh. No way." Dib disbelieved her then glanced back to Zim and Mary who was wearing a white dress. Dib sighed realizing she was probably right. He knew Zim really loves her, was very stubborn and seldom changes his mind.

"Hey, do you mind we…" Josh dragged the question pointing to the dance floor.

"Don't mind me." Dib said then took out a pencil. "You dance. I'll just write out my best man speech on this napkin."

Josh and Tina briefly gawked to what he was doing (writing) and went to the dance floor. Dib wrote a few cheesy sentences saying he knew they would get married from the Prom dance they shared. Dib glanced up at the note one more time to spot a girl he knew from Calculus standing outside the rings of dancing couples. Freezer burn girl, Leena. Dib saw Leena leaning against the wall bleachers next to the stage. Her arms were crossed not having the best time. Looked like she was out of the loop like he is. Dib despised her for turning a high nose to him but then discovered how pretty she really was. Her long brown hair stream down upon her shoulders and slender body. Her dress was a dark purple perfectly fit her complexion. Dib thought she was very beautiful. Dib had an idea he might soon regret but then again, he had nothing better to do. He stood from his chair walking towards the bored girl. He stood before her and smiled. She glanced at him realizing he was at presence with her.

"Hi, care to dance?" Dib asked. Leena displayed an odd look on her face. Dib took her silent response a bad sign and started fidgeting. "Look, you might hate me for the stunt I pulled with the pick-up line but I only said it because I was so nervous and didn't know how to approach you. Let's be honest, you're very pretty and I'm just a guy with a really big head."

Leena snickered hearing his last statement.

"You think that's funny?" Dib responded to her chuckle. "Okay, I get you." Dib took her chuckle as rejection and turned away then felt her hand on his arm. She smiled and looked to Dib.

"Of course I will dance with you." Leena said. Dib turned around and smiled to her.

"I'm Dib." He introduced himself.

"Leena." She acquaintance. Dib offered his hand and she took it. Dib lead her to the dance floor. While they danced, he thought of engaging in small talk.

"You know Zim from our class?" Dib asked her.

"Yeah?" She wondered why he brought Zim up.

"He's my brother. Well, not actually my brother. My Dad adopted him after his parents died. We were best friends at the time."

"Your Dad adopted your best friend?" Leena gasped amazed. "That's truly noble. The nicest deed I heard anyone do."

"Yes, it is. My father's a great scientist." Dib said looking at Leena. "I'm planning to become a scientist too."

"A scientist? Wow, what kind?" Leena asking interested.

"Hmmm…Haven't decided." Dib admitted. "Have any plans after graduation?"

"Nothing special. Haven't thought of it much but I really want to do is write novels. I love to write horror stories especially about ghosts and supernatural creatures. Do you believe in the paranormal?" Leena asked him. Dib stopped in the tracks of his trot.

"We have much to discuss." Dib twirled her around then they resume position. Zim peeked over Mary's shoulder seeing Dib finally dancing with someone and smirked then gazed at the warm girl who's dancing with him.

"Mary?" Zim whispered. "Are you enjoying this?"

"Yes, thank you for bringing me. I love dancing with you."

"I love being with you." Zim replied. Mary nod up to spy his smile. She sigh his name and they share a kiss. The music began to fade to stop and the lights turned on. Everyone stopped dancing and motion their attention to the stage. On it appeared the vice principal next to a table displaying the plastic crown and tiara.

"It's time to announce Prom King and Queen." He pronounced in the microphone. The DJ cue in a recorded drum roll. "This year's Prom King and Queen are Torque Smacky and Sara Reneli. Come up here and get your crowns."

Sara leaped in joy with her friends while Torque's friends patted him on the back. They arrived on stage to receive the crowns and honor.

"Time now for the traditional Prom King and Queen dance."

Torque and Sara boarded off to the dance floor hand in hand to dance in solitude. Their peers stared circling around watching them dance. Zim blankly stared at Torque rubbing Sara's hip.

"I would have voted you queen Mary but then I'd have to watch stupid jocks feel you up." Zim commented.

"You could have voted yourself king." Mary suggested.

"That's never going to happen." Zim knew full well how popularly despised by his classmates. Zim looked at his watch. "We have fifteen minutes to spare. What you want to do?"

"I can think of one thing." Mary said then nuzzled her head under his chin. She kissed his neck. Zim grinned excited by the intimacy then glanced at each of their friends. Brian and Penny seem to be having fun and Dib found someone to talk to.

"Doesn't seem like we'll be missed." Zim was on board with sneaking out of the crowd for alone time. Zim took her by the hand and began dispersing. They reached the doors and on the way out, they saw Josh and Tina enter the room. Tina smiled a silly grin. Josh had the same grin too.

"Whatcha' guys doing?" Josh wondered and asked.

"Nothing, just getting some air." Zim blurted a lie but Josh didn't buy it.

"Uh-huh, right." Josh said. Zim tried to pass him but Josh caught him by the shoulder while Mary talked with Tina. "Here's an early going away present."

Josh snickered and placed a plastic wrapper in his hand. Zim thought Josh was pulling his leg by giving him trash but when he opened his hand, he saw it was wrapped. Not an open candy wrapper, it was no candy Zim would consider. It was a condom. Zim leered at the condom and then at Josh who vacated in the crowd. He was to call him out for being utterly immature until Mary asked.

"What's that in your hand?"

Zim quickly clasped his hand hiding the condom and answered her. "Nothing." Zim slipped the condom in his pants pocket and grabbed Mary's hand. They walked into the dark hallway usually bright in the daytime. It was off limits but no one seemed to pay attention to them. They traveled deep into the hallway to gain their privacy and found a row of lockers they hide beside next to a window. Zim held her loose while he kissed her and pressed her to the wall. They kissed each other letting the moon shine over them. Zim rubbed her curvy waist while she rubbed the back of his neck and chest. Zim moved his kisses to her bare right shoulder exposed by the dress. Mary chuckled.

"Zim, what are you doing?"

"How often do I get to kiss you there?" Zim said then kissed up her neck, her chin to her cheek. Mary gazed at him and stood on up toes to reach his lips again. Zim soon realize Mary rubbing his chest and how good it felt. He wanted her to experience the same joy and intimacy. He smoothly glided his fingers up her waist gently cupped her left breast. It was soft and warm like nothing he felt before. Zim laid his fingers in the curve of the breast inside her cleavage. Mary opened her eyes feeling the grip Zim had on her breast. Not if it was tight or uncomfortable, just there. Mary gazed into Zim's eyes as he lean towards her to express his love by kissing her cheek. Zim made the bold move to take their relationship to the next level. A wave of passion swept over Mary when he touched her. Mary grasped his shirt and pulled him closer. She bit his lower lip while they kissed. Zim licked the roof of her mouth as she licked his bottom tongue. They engaged in a tongue roll. Mary's grip became weak so she wrapped her arm around Zim's neck. Zim squeezed her breast feeling her chest rise up and down as she breathed. Zim glide his hand from her breast to the other. It bounced in his hand while Mary leaned forward. She unraveled his tie. He took a deep sigh feeling the release of the tie. Mary unbuttons the two top of his shirt and bit the base of his neck biting it with each kiss. Zim watched as her hair dangled on his neck tickling his chin. Zim released the grasp he had on her breast to hold her delicate curls. He wrapped his arm around her head while he stroked her hair. Mary enjoyed it more especially when he kissed her forehead. Mary ceased kissing and nuzzles him. Zim welcomed the rub from her nose and continue stroking her hair. Each time he would, his fingers ran by Mary's ear. Zim intrigue perk to her ear and he openly acted upon this curiosity. He knelt low tenderly grasping her head. He titled to her then stroke the curls over her ear and nipped her lobe. He then kissed her bottom outer ear. Mary heard the whisper moans he expressed and blushed. Zim slowly kissed down her neckline and reached eye level with her. Zim leaned, eyes meeting same pleasure of their presence as he rubbed the right of her nose with his lips and kissed her. Zim drifted away from her returning to reality but still kept his eyes on her. Mary brush aside her curls from her face to look at Zim. She glanced around the hallway.

"Where are we?" Mary whispered slightly confused on the location they snuck off to.

"In the skool." Zim replied.

"I forgot where we were for a second." Mary admitted. Zim hugged her hips.

"I did too. It felt like we weren't here like we were somewhere else." Zim said. "It's something I never felt with anyone before. Our emotions were so raw. Please tell me you felt it too."

"I felt it, Zim." Mary told him. "The strong emotions we share are real."

"Mary. I want to- I want to-" Zim repeated but could not complete. He tried to express what he felt. The succumbing emotions he desire to share only with her.

"What is it?"

"I don't know but I want it." Zim said. Mary chuckled to his undecided need and kissed his cheek.

"I'll be there when you want it." Mary smirked. "What time is it?"

Zim quickly flashed his watch in the moonlight. It was three minutes to ten. Prom was to be over.

"It will be ten soon." Zim replied. "We should go outside."

Zim button his shirt and left the tie as it is. It was trouble to tie. He didn't want to try. Mary flattened the creases in her dress then walked along Zim in the hallway to meet the rest of the population exiting the auditorium. They passed the bathrooms. Upon seeing the door, instantly Zim was reminded of his bladder and the urge to empty it. He stopped in his tracks and turned to Mary.

"I gotta go to the bathroom." Zim said.

"Alright, I'll wait here." Mary suggested but Zim shook his head.

"Go outside and meet Membrane in the front. He should be here soon. The others should be outside too. I'll catch up."

"Okay, I'll tell Membrane to wait." Mary said. She walked outside into the crowd without him. She stood on the curb. One by one she saw her classmates enter cars. No sight of Membrane. No sight of anyone she recognized as her friend. She wondered where everyone was including Dib. He was to meet his father in this same spot. She tapped her foot and crossed her arms waiting for anyone at this moment to arrive little to suspect any unwanted annoyance. To the right, a stumbling boy approached her. He was a little taller than Mary but she couldn't tell the way he slumped as he walked. His suit was a mess. Tie pulled out of place, cuffs unbuttoned and hair fuzzy like hairy jelly. His eyes were bloodshot but he can see Mary; a hot little number. He smirked to her and chuckled. She whiff the air intoxicated by the alcoholic fumes he was emitting. She stepped away yet he stumbled to her.

"Hey," He spoke.

"Uh, hi." Mary answered him. He giggled like he was having a fit.

"You like chickens?" He spat out a question. Mary didn't answer. Then he raised his voice. "'Cause I got a cock-a-doodle-doo in my pants waiting to get chocked!"

Mary turned away offended by his joke. He put his hand on her shoulder.

"Come on baby, don't be that way." Mary jerked from his grip.

"Don't touch me!" Mary shouted.

"What's wrong with you? What's the matter?"

"Leave me alone." Mary warned him. "My boyfriend will be here any minute."

"Your boyfriend, huh? You never mention anything about a boyfriend."

"I just did."

"Well I think you're full of shit. I bet he doesn't exist. You just made it up because you don't want to talk to me."

"No, I do have a boyfriend." Mary told the truth but the boy believed his own truth. Her rejection set him off. Zim opened the front door and stepped outside the skool. He was grazing through the crowd, trying to find Mary. He saw her in the grip of another guy. He pulled on her arm, he heard the boy screaming.

"Mary." He uttered her name horrified. Terrified by the sight anyone would do this. Then he saw what crossed the line of any standard respect which soon realized can be broken. The boy punched Mary in the eye. The boy released her as she fell on her knees. She held the eye he hurt to try to restrain her pain but a whimper cry let out. Zim wanted to scream but couldn't. His body shook. Uncontrollable rage overcame his mind of any sense of right or wrong. It didn't matter to him in that split second. One thing was certain; he is to kick his ass. A few students, who witness the punch, circled around to express what they saw. One student helped Mary stand up. The crowd was easily tossed aside by Zim making his way to the bastard. Without warning or hesitation, Zim punched him square in the bridge of his nose. The kid fell and slid in the street by the inertia Zim impacted. Zim ignored any scream or sound anyone uttered to stop him from picking up the guy from his collar and continue to strike him over and over again. Mary screamed for him to stop but it wasn't coming through. She squirmed out of arm of the student and rush to Zim. Zim raised his fist to strike but Mary reached and grabbed his arm before he could.

"Zim, please stop!" Mary cried. She struggled to hold back his arm. She looked him in the eyes. He was gone of rational thought. He glared pass Mary, blinded to make the boy suffer. Nothing was to change this feeling. "Zim, stop! It's okay, I'm fine. Just stop! He's stupid and drunk! He's a stupid drunk! It's not worth it! Pleeease, stop…"

Mary begged and pleaded holding his arm with all the strength. Mary felt her arm grow weak and so was his. He lowered his fist and slowly turned to Mary. He saw tears swell in her eyes more apparent in the swollen eye that was struck. He turned to the boy he grasped by the collar. His lips consumed with blood flown from his nose. He closed his eyes and squirmed. Eyes, gleaming with tears. The anger washed away like a high tide leaving a bare open beach of regret. Regret he acted so violently. He dropped the kid, aware of the beating he inflicted. Mary wrapped her arms around Zim and Zim did the same. He whispered an apology he wanted her to hear.

"It's alright, Zim." Mary whispered. The Vice Principal ran on sight seeing the pulverized kid wiping the blood on his sleeve. Mr. Covolt helped the kid get on his feet.

"Zim? What happened?"

Zim heard the familiar squawk from the crowd and turned to it. There, was Dib standing before him and with Leena. Her hand covering her mouth out of shock and horror by the kid's injury. Zim turned away to the kid he assaulted.

"You two, stand up and stay where you are." Mr. Covolt commanded. "I need to know exactly what happened."

"He, he- Oh man…" The boy stuttered then raised his arm to touch his face. "My nose…"

Mr. Covolt gave him his handkerchief he kept in his front pocket. Mary explained what the boy did and how he behaved. Zim heard her side of the story and cued in when he saw him hit Mary. Dib heard and couldn't believe it. Dib was disgusted this idiot hit Mary. Just then, he saw his Dad drive up. Dib shook his head aware the night was too soon to end. Prof. Membrane saw the masses huddled around Zim, Mary, Dib, the Vice Principal and the pounded kid. He knew this couldn't be good. Membrane got out of his car and approached them.

"Is there a problem?" Membrane spoke. Mr. Covolt turned around to see Membrane stand over him.

"Professor Membrane?" Mr. Covolt questioned surprise to see the famous scientist here.

"Yes, that's me." Prof. Membrane confirmed.

"He's my Dad." Dib said then glanced at Zim. "Our Dad." Dib put his hand on Zim's shoulder to show comparison. He couldn't see any.

"Yes, I'm both these boys' parent." Membrane said.

"Your boy Zim beat up this kid." Mr. Covolt motions to the guy being cared for by another adult on staff.

"Only because he hit me." Mary butted in. Membrane turned to her. "He punched me in the eye."

Membrane glanced at the boy receiving care for his bloody nose and shook his head ashamed.

"We contacted his parents. They should be picking him up shortly." Mr. Covolt informed Membrane.

"Then I better take them home too before things get worst. Best to separate until further notice." Prof. Membrane suggested. Mr. Covolt agreed with his decision.

"I'll call later to see when we can arrange a sit down and decide what needs to be done. Will you be taking Mary home?"

"Yes, I am if you think I should. Unless, you called her father."

"No, we haven't." Mr. Covolt replied.

"I'll call and let him know what happened and why we are running late." Prof. Membrane reached into his pocket and picked up his cell phone. He called Prof. Weylin. Prof. Membrane explained Mary was hit by a guy but is okay. Zim heard how loud the reaction was through his cell phone. Prof. Membrane handed the phone to Mary.

"Come on kids, get to the car." Prof. Membrane suggested. Prof. Membrane, Dib, Zim and Mary took their seats and Membrane drove off campus. Mary hung up the phone atlas. Zim sat quiet during the conversation she had with her father. Mary gave the phone to Dib since Membrane was driving. Mary glanced at Zim who appeared very worried. He sat there, hands on his lap staring at the back of the driver's seat.

"Zim, are you okay?" Mary asked but Zim shifted away peering out the window. Mary was to grasp his hand then stopped the specks of dry blood smeared on his right. Mary kept her hands cupped and stare forward. Zim spied the reflection in the car window. A silhouette of the troubled girl he couldn't comfort. Zim heard his name then once again as he repeated.

"Zim." Membrane raised his voice to gain his attention. Zim turned to Membrane. "We're here at Mary's house. Did you want to escort her to the door?"

Zim glanced to Mary and sense she was a little scared. She shivered peering out the window. Chilled from the cold and shocked by tonight. Zim placed his hand on Mary's. Mary turn to Zim when he answered.

"Yes, I will."

"Do you need me to explain-"

"No, I'll explain." Zim cut off his effort. Zim opened his car door and assisted her exiting his side. Then the front door swung open of Mary's house. Prof. Weylin shadowed and appeared before them. Prof. Weylin glanced at his hurt daughter then glared at Zim like he was the culprit. He ran straight to Zim and grabbed him by the collar and bow tie.

"And where were you?" Audacious, the question Prof. Weylin lashed at Zim.

"Dad, please!" Mary gasped then put her hands on her father's arms to pull him away from Zim.

"Where were you when that punk-ass punched my daughter?"

Zim could sense much anger and grief when Prof. Weylin addressed him. Membrane jumped out of the car.

"Weylin, release him!" Membrane demanded.

"Dad, it wasn't his fault!" Mary screamed to her father then Zim finally spoke.

"No, he's right. Where was I when you needed me? I believed you would be alright waiting for Membrane while I used the bathroom but when I saw him, did what he did, it sicken me that I couldn't protect you from the punch he stung your eye or trash talk he slurred or any of that shit. So Weylin, it's my fault I wasn't there to protect her and all I can offer is an apology and the blood on my hand in which I beat the kid senseless but I will accept an eye for an eye."

Prof. Weylin locked into intimidating leer with Zim. After a moment of silence, Prof. Weylin released his grip and walked away to the house.

"Let's get inside Mary." Prof. Weylin commanded of his daughter. Mary sadly glanced at Zim and slowly walked into her home. Prof. Weylin waited for Mary to enter before shutting the door. "I'll get an ice pack." He grunted marching into the kitchen. Mary sat upon the couch then slapped her face into her palms as she mourned for the night which has destined. Prof. Weylin returned with the ice pack only to see his daughter crying. "What's wrong?"

"It's my fault." Mary whimpered. "I wasn't strong enough and then I watch Zim beat him. It was terrible…I-I should have done something to defend myself then none of this would happen."

"Whatever happened, it's not your fault. I'm straitening this out first thing in the morning. Okay, sweetheart."

Mary hugged her Dad for comfort but in her heart, she knew Zim was suffering.

Zim remained silent, sitting in the backseat. He lowered his head watching lights flicker on and away as they pass by each streetlamp or bright house window. They turned into their neighborhood. The speed of the car became slower adjust to fifteen miles per hour speed limit. Zim bit the lower part of his lip awaiting his chance to leave, to go home and forget, to erase this horrible night from existence. Any way possible he could imagine but not execute. He has to face the reality and rather face it alone. Not have to bare the question of why or his motives or the brief moment he forgot his civilization. The brief moment he knew to not be human. An alien, Irken is his race name and is destined to destroy. It struck him like nothing ever will. He shudder, not of chill but fear. Fear of becoming what they decided he needed to be. An Invader. Zim look up at Dib and glanced at Membrane. They sat quiet like they were unsure what needed to be said. As they arrived to Dib's house, Zim saw this as his chance to escape the troubling shame it may soon hit him from both Dib and Membrane. When Membrane turned off the engine, Zim unlocked the door, removed his seatbelt, open the car door and darted into the night.

"Zim!" Dib cried out.

"Damn it all!" Prof. Membrane cursed and started up his car. Dib gazed surprised to hear his father swear. Membrane glanced at his remaining son. "Close the door, please."

Dib did what his father told him and Membrane reverse, back out of the driveway and zoomed down the residential area. Membrane spotted Zim running. Membrane sped up by him, turned a sharp left blocking him street wise of any exit. Zim stopped immediately to avoid a collision. He was shocked it was Membrane who caught up and blocked him. Membrane put his car on park and stood outside his seat.

"Zim, get in the car now!" Membrane screamed. Zim recognized the glare behind Membrane's goggles to be frustration and anger of why he ran. Zim muttered. Membrane saw his lips move but could not hear.

"What was that?" Membrane shouted loudly.

"Why should I?" Zim retorted a scream. "Why should I listen to you?"

"Because I'm your father and you are my son. That's why." Membrane answered stern to his question. Zim smirked.

"My father and your son? Please Membrane; spare me the emotional bonding crap you human like to incorporate. Do you know on my planet there are no mothers or fathers? I bet you didn't even know that now did you?"

"I don't care, I don't care of your society's stand points of child rearing. For all I knew, there was a crippled creature who needed my help and I given it to you throughout the years under my guidance. Who was there to get your life together, cloth you, feed you and invite you into our family. It wasn't them who would gladly let you suffer electric shocks until you die. Speaking of them, when I heard they want you back, it made me sick. It made me physically sick for to leave you and come back so many years later to work for them. So to their concern, I don't care for their standards and you shouldn't either. I'm not to deny you as my son and like YOUR father, we are to discuss what happened. And I don't ever want to hear you use your race as an excuse to hide anything because they don't deserve any recognition. You're not hiding it from Mary, you're certainly not hiding it from me. Now, listen to me and get in the car."

After Dib heard his father's convincing argument, he stared at Zim wondering what he would do next. Zim kept his head lowered then took a step and didn't stop as he walked to Membrane's car. Zim opened the car door and sat in the seat. Membrane released a heavy sigh and went back in the car. Zim's mind clouded of every kind gesture Membrane shown him though out the years. His silent wasn't out of fright, he was humbled how much he cared for him and realized it as such. They arrived at Membrane's house and parked in the driveway. They exit the car and walked to the front porch. Zim let Membrane lead since he was the authority figure. Zim respected the man in whole new way. Zim sat on the couch beside Dib joining in the circle.

"Now, you hit the boy because from what I understand he assaulted Mary?" Prof. Membrane asked for clarity.

"Yes, when I came out of the bathroom to meet Mary outside, I saw him grab and hit her. Punch her in the face, the rotten bastard. After that, I just lost it and punched him over and over again. Mary stopped me from putting that boy in a coma."

"Hmmm…Good she was able to. We could use your reaction as a way of defending Mary. You were defending her, right?"

"Of course I was." Zim said without a doubt.

"Then you shouldn't be in too much trouble once I talk to principal. Zim, if this was all, then why did you runaway from discussing this?"

"Because I didn't want to go through the shame and guilt I felt."

"You admit you lost your temper?" Membrane asked. Zim nodded solemnly.

"Then use it as experience to better control it so nothing like this could happen again."

"Yes Sir," Zim agreed. Membrane nodded acknowledging him for accepting his advice without question.

"It's very important to recognize when you're upset, calm down and stand back before making a mistake you'll soon regret. I'm not saying you punching the guy was wrong or right. I would say he deserved it for hitting her, well that's my opinion." Membrane pauses to hear his cell phone ringing. "Excuse me." Membrane picked up his phone and answers the call. Zim sat there as though he has been in this situation before. Many times Membrane has helped him get out of sticky situations. It reminded Zim back in the day when Membrane adopted him. The exact moment he had became officially part of this family. Zim glance to Dib as Dib exchange a similar casual stare. Dib looked away to stare at his father while he was talking on the phone. He heard the one sided conversation. It was concerning Zim and his assault. Membrane said farewell and looked at Zim.

"There is to be a meeting tomorrow at noon in the office. Your principal is to decide punishment. I'll pick you up at your house precisely at 11 A.M. I would suggest you go home and rest."

"Right, and you don't have to give me a ride home."

"You sure?" Membrane asked uncertain.

"Yeah, I need to use the bathroom."

"Then you are excused. I'll see you tomorrow." Zim stood up from his seat and made his way upstairs to the bathroom. He opened the door and idles around the sink. He gazed into the mirror to view his reflection. He looked awful. Zim spied the bags under his eyes, messy hair and crooked raveled bow tie. What a night he thought staring deep into his reflection reliving the events which forsook tonight. He removed the tie and stuck it in his pocket. To his shock of doing such, he noticed blood dry stained on his right knuckles. It was such a shock, he gagged to the sight. Seeing the kid's blood on his hand made him sick and become aware of reality of which he tried to avoid for so long. He has become soft. He lost his touch. The aggression, remorse he didn't burden when he began his mission and life on Earth had snuck on him and lounge its way into his personality, his beliefs and ideal sense of justice. The conscience cricket danced inside his mind and was here to stay. Nothing was to change the horrid guilt he denied for so long. Zim tried to clean it from his hand, the dry blood remaining him of weakness rubbing it with a towel. He rubbed and rubbed so hard. Eventually, the blood shed but the insecurity hasn't gone away. It burned chafed on his knuckles. Not returning satisfaction of the conflict he fueled tonight. His anger ignited flames and set the night twirl downward like an endless spiral. Causing trouble at skool and inflicting Prof. Weylin of comforting Mary. Poor Mary, he thought. His reckless defense enthrall sorrow she and to endure and explain to her father. And the escape he tried to achieve backfired when Membrane established his role as his father. All these confusing feelings surfaced and lay stagnant like a bottomless puddle still remaining after a long rain storm. Zim heard a tap on door popping his coherent muddled thoughts.

"Zim, are you okay?"

Zim hear it to be Dib. Zim didn't answer but opened the door. Dib spied his frown, tired state.

"What's wrong?" Dib emphasized. Zim couldn't say, he glanced at many things cluttering the hallway. No answer to describe his feelings.

"How was your Prom?" Zim asked.

"How was my Prom?" Dib questioned why he changed the subject. He looked at him baffled but probably knew he wasn't ready to open up so he played along.

"It was good. I had fun. You know Leena from Math class?" Zim nodded and Dib continued. "I asked her to dance and during it, we talked. We had a lot in common. She's into the paranormal like I am. Can you believe it?"

"It is a broad interest." Zim stated. "Everyone likes it. Whoever believes it, that is."

"I got her phone number." Dib said.

"Are you interested in her?" Zim wondered. Dib nodded.

"It's great you had a good time." Zim said not be sarcastic. He was genuine in his response.

"Yeah, thanks for convincing me to go." Dib admitted. "Bringing me out of my shell really helped me since the break-up with Gretchen."

"What are friends for?" When Zim uttered the statement, he sighed. "I heard that saying so many times on this planet, I understand what it means and use it like I belong here but the truth is, it has became my downfall. They were right, living on this planet had made me weak. Weak enough I don't believe I could do what they force me to partake."

"What are you saying?" Dib jump to ask.

"I can't do it." Zim muttered then lowered his chin. "I can't bring myself to so this. To destroy another civilization. I learned so much living on Earth and how similar any civilization could share as a society. Destroying for the sake of property? It's not in me anymore and wasn't my motivation. My motivation was to be accepted by my society. The Irken rule but since I am accepted here, my motivation is gone. I, being the savior of humanity? It's a huge cruel joke. Destroying a civilization for another? Where's the solution in that? There isn't one. I wish the ignorant part of me existed and I can be selfish again to not think of people I'll leave homeless or kill in the process of gaining their planet."

"Where did this come from?" Dib could only question.

"Don't play dumb. I have been thinking of this the whole time." Zim snapped at Dib. "I've been riddled of this since I took the mission. I never brought it up because I tried to bury it but you can't really bury something that isn't dead. Now can you?"

"Zim, it's one thing to hide your fear, it's another to try to deny it. What you feel is right and I agree with you. Destroying a civilization for another is wrong. It is not the answer and you have the right to not do it."

"What about Earth? They will not be very understanding if I were to rebel."

"We will be ready, I'll be ready if they try to take our planet. We have one element on our side to use in defense and it's as simple as H2O."

"Oh right, the water." Zim recalled, then shudder remembering the burning senation.

"And we know Paks are life support systems. We can take care of them." Dib said positive in their weak attributes.

"Then why am I doing this? Why did everyone put so much effort in building my ship?"

"We did it for you because you need this. You need to go back and settle unfinished business. For all they are concerned, they think you still on their side, you're part of their society and mission but you're not. I know you aren't and don't want to be but you have to prove you don't want it. You have to fight for your freedom so they don't ever have you do this again."

"Is that what I want?"

"Well, is it?" Dib questioned him.

"Yeah, it must be. I have to fight for everyone most importantly myself. I don't want to be looped into anything like this and jeopardize everyone's safety because of me. I have to go. I must go otherwise it will never end. Even if the fate of Meekrob lay in my decision, I have to."

"If you must conquer Meekrob, do it. If not, then don't and come home. All we want is for you to come home. It's your choice."

"I'm scared." Zim silently stuttered.

"I know you are." Dib said then looked away. "I'm scared too."

No solution was clear that night. It was too early to tell what Zim would decide whether it was worth his freedom to go forth with the mission the Armada has forced on him. The answer will have to wait until he arrives. Patience and common sense Zim would have to use greatly in this decision. Two skills nobody would think Zim could ever learn but what has the Tallests or his colleagues known about him? The time of this decision in uncertain and soon to draw near Zim acknowledge but put aside the issue for he had another to settle. The meeting tomorrow at skool. Zim retired for evening to his house in his room. It was difficult to sleep and yet he manages to doze off. The slumber was quick and effective to Zim's surprise when he awoke a quarter to ten. Zim got dressed and ate a late breakfast with his robots. Zim told them he would be leaving shortly for a meeting at the skool. Gir sang, dance and clapped his metal hands singing Zim was in trouble over and over and over again. Minimoose danced along too because the rhythm was catchy. When eleven strike, Zim was out the door standing beside his fence waiting for Membrane. He was about five minutes late. The car drove in the cul-de-sac. Zim marched to it and opened the front passenger door.

"Sorry I'm late." Membrane spoke. "Was a little preoccupied and lost track of time."

"It's okay." Zim said as Membrane got ready to drive out of their neighborhood. "We should be able to make it on time."

"I hope so." Membrane said. "Traffic is just terrible on Sundays."

"Not really." Zim said but Membrane denied it.

"You don't know Zim, you don't know." He gravely spoke. Zim rolled his eyes and kept his mouth shut. The drive was quick and smooth unlike Membrane's absurd warning. Zim didn't feel the need to correct him. He just got out of the car when they parked on campus. They walked side by side into the skool yard and building. Not much was said except Membrane explaining to Zim how to act.

"Now Zim don't be outspoken." Membrane advised. "It's a discussion, you'll get your turn to speak. The less interruption to be had, we can get out of here."

"Yes, I know Membrane. I must have been to these meetings like one hundred times."

"Well, six to be exact but who's counting." Membrane said. They arrive outside the office to find Mary and Prof. Weylin. Mary was the first Zim saw. He saw the bruise that stunned her eye. It was a light purple below her eyelid. He picked up the pace to see her. Zim ignored whatever outbursts her father may have and focused on her. Zim cupped her hand.

"Mary, does it hurt?" Zim sadly said in his attempt to cope her. He was worried it still might.

"Just a little. It's not so bad." Mary said to lessen his worry.

"Don't tell him that." Prof. Weylin motion to the kid responsible standing on the other side of the hallway with his parents. Zim desire to sneer and scream at the boy who hit her but Zim had a look at his face and thought he did enough damage. His right cheek was swollen and his eye too. Zim didn't recall hitting him in the eye but he was in so much rage he could have possibly. The bulk of his nose was purple too. His parents scowl at their child, then looked to Zim and glared at him. Prof. Weylin avoided eye contact with a child and parents. The door swung up at the stroke of noon and hazy fog rolled out of the office. It gave Zim a chill. The room was dark so Zim went inside to investigate. Upon entering the office, Principal Bitters arose from the fog and startled Zim and Membrane.

"Gosh woman!" Membrane yelp spooked. "You scared me."

"Everyone enter one person at a time." Principal Bitters didn't waste effort on introductions. "Let's get this resolved before the students have a field day. Lonesome gossip chirping children, they chirp!"

Principal Bitters floated into the room and turned on the lights. Prof. Weylin stared baffled at the elder.

"This is your principal?"

"Try not to question her authority." Zim warned Prof. Weylin as he entered first in the office. Membrane followed behind, then Weylin and Mary then the kid and his parents. Principal Bitters flew to the seat at the head of the conference table. She tugged at the trim of her deathly hooded robe and sat down. Zim and Membrane sat on the right. Mary and Weylin joined them while the opposing family sat to the opposite side.

"This is how we'll start. You!" Principal Bitters pointed to Mary. Mary promptly glanced at her attention detected. "Would you explain since this boy, Jamie Wilklefeild, was clearly intoxicated at the time."

"You can't prove that." Spoke out of terms the father of the accused boy. Principal Bitters bolted her head like a rapid weasel and snarled at the father.

"You'll get your turn!" He shut his mouth and kept quiet.

"It happened like this. I was waiting at the entrance for Membrane, Zim's Dad, to pick us up after Prom. Zim was in the bathroom so I waited by myself then Jamie appeared. I never met him before. I didn't even know his name until now but he approached me saying offensive things." Mary explained but remained vague of what was said.

"What kind of things?" Principal Bitters asked her. Mary glanced away from her then looked at Jamie and to the wall where it was much easier to repeat the words.

"He asked me if I liked chickens because he had a cock wanting to be…chocked." Mary bluntly said. Zim twitched an eye but didn't say a word knowing the rules of these meetings. Jamie covered his face and turned away as his mother frowned and the father shook his head. "I tried to ignore him but he became persistant asking me why I was ignoring him. I told him to leave me alone that I had a boyfriend. I guess it made him angry and during the struggle, he hit me."

"Mary, did he appear intoxicated with alcohol at the time?" Principal Bitters asked.

"Yes, I could smell it on him and he was clumsy."

"And where did he grab you?"

"On my arm and on my waist. He was trying to pull me in."

"To do what?"

"Maybe kiss me or something. I wasn't sure what he was doing." Mary said then glanced to the ceiling. "It all happened so fast."

Principal Bitters heard her side and stared at Zim who had his elbows up on the table, face in his hands hiding his devastation.

"Zim!" She snapped at him. Zim removed his hands and stared at the old woman.

"You look horrible. Tell us your side, now!" She demanded. Zim rest his arms on the table to explain his side.

"I saw him grab Mary and hit her then all of a sudden I had him in my hand punching him. I know what I did was wrong and stupid and well we can do stupid things sometimes." Zim said and glanced to Jamie. "I will admit I did let my rage get the best of me but what can one do if you see someone hitting the girl you love. I love her."

After Zim admit his feelings, the boy stare down at the table avoiding his stare.

"What a sweet sentiment." Principal Bitters spat out like it was venom. "Too sweet for my dentures. So is there anything you like to say in your defense, Jamie?"

Jamie nodded then glanced to everyone.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I hit you, Mary. I was drunk and wasn't thinking. And I'm sorry I hit your daughter." Jamie said looking at Prof. Weylin then to Zim. "And I'm sorry, Zim. Hitting a girl was wrong, hitting your girl was wrong. I wish I could go back in time when this never happened. To stop myself from this ever happening."

"Well, I'm sorry I beat you really really bad." Zim apologized for making the kid look horribly disfigured. The boy shook his head.

"Don't be. I would have done the same." Jamie admitted.

"This is just dandy." Principal Bitters intervene. "However, punishments must be set. Jamie for being intoxicated on campus, assaulting and sexually harassing a student, you are sentence to a full two weeks of suspension. You will have to complete your exams in summer skool and you are certainly not allowed to be on the Track Team anymore. I also need to talk to you privately discussing where and who you obtained the alcohol. Zim, for assaulting another student, whether it was to Mary's defense or not, you are sentence three days of in-skool suspension. You are required to begin tomorrow in room 204. You are to stay in the room from the start of the skool day to when it ends. I would advise you bring a packed lunch. Meeting adjured, it's over. You can go."

Prof. Membrane thanked the principal and they boarded out of the room. Mary kept her eyes on Zim, the boy who risked punishment to protect her. Mary couldn't help to admire him more especially when he said he loved to her to the attacker. He caught her gaze and never wondered from it. As they enter the hallway, Prof. Weylin stared at the two while his daughter remained by his side. Weylin stepped away from his daughter.

"I give you five minutes." Prof. Weylin said while walking. "I'll be in the car."

Prof. Membrane followed Weylin's example by leaving Zim in the opposite direction.

"I'll see you in the car too." Membrane called out. Zim didn't reply and let Membrane leave.

"We get to be alone?" Zim questioned the situation.

"Looks like it." Mary said turning her head to see her father walking out the back entrance. Zim stared at Mary expressionless. He had so much to say he didn't know where to start. He tagged on what consume him most.

"Mary, I'm sorry about last night. I never meant for it to turn so horrible and awful. All I wanted was to spend time with you." Zim finally confessed. Mary gently squeezed his arm.

"Hey," She spoke looking up at him. "It's not your fault, none of this. It just turned out bad. Stuff like this always happens."

"Like me having to go to Meekrob?" Zim tried to compare. Mary glanced to the floor.

"Yeah…"Mary agreed in her sigh.

"Not the best example?" Zim sense her discomfort.

"No, I'm afraid not." Mary answered then looked back at him. "Regardless of what happened, I had a great time. And what you said at the meeting, it really meant a lot to me. Thank you."

"Mary, I will always protect you." Zim said then grasped her hand. Mary held his fingers in hers in response. They shared a small significant kiss honorable of their devotion. Mary stepped away from it.

"I'll see you tomorrow before skool. I gotta go." Mary said then released his hand. Mary quickens her pace while she walked in the hallway then slowed realizing why she was walking so fast in the first place. A tremendous pain surged through her heart. It's like her heart was torn. She knew what he said could never be true for he will be gone soon and the protection he promised would be a wishful lie to believe and would love to believe it so but she had to face facts, cold, sorrowful facts, he'll have to leave and could be gone forever.


	40. Hurdles of the Heart

It's a Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 40: Hurdles of the Heart

It was a bright sunny morning as Zim stroll through his neighborhood. He was ready to face the day and punishment of in-skool suspension. He wasn't sure what was in store for but he did listen to the advice Principal Bitters gave. Bring a packed lunch. He prepared it early this morning relieving Gir the duty to avoid any weird stuff he usually packs. To avoid any more trouble of bringing such items. He was to meet Dib and Gaz so they take the bus together. Zim reached their house and banged on the door. Dib answered and told Gaz to hurry. Gaz replied a hideous snare and followed Dib and Zim to the bus stop. They stood by and their bus arrived on time. They boarded. Nothing special. Upon boarding, Zim spotted Mary sitting in the back row. He could see the process of her eye is healing well. It became a lighter shade of purple overnight. Zim made his way to meet her. Mary noticed his presence and smiled a shy grin. Dib and Gaz tagged along and sat in the nearest seats.

"Hi, Mary." Zim greeted with a smile.

"Hello, Zim." Mary said. Zim sat next to Mary not to prolong their meeting.

"How's the eye?" He asked the condition.

"Fine, just fine." Mary acting casual of the bruise. Zim nodded and placed his arm around her shoulders while they sat together. Not much was said during the ride to skool. When reaching their destination, they got off and walked to campus. Dib wasn't much into small talk. He was busy texting Leena. Each time he talked, he was interrupted by a new message on his cell phone. In the skool, Zim grabbed every textbook he would possibly need for the single classroom setting. No syllabus was given or made to prepare what Zim could learn confined in room 204. One rule was clear, he is not to leave this room until the end of the skool day. For three days. Zim kissed his sweetheart goodbye as he face the lurking gloom which room 204 was infamous. The room of detention and resident of frequent delinquents. Zim has been sent to this room plenty o'times so he knew off hand its direction. Zim turned the corner and enter the open classroom. There at the desk, was the supervisor, Mr. Marlasque. This middle aged man, appear rich in youth and vigor stood behind the desk awaiting Zim. Zim knew the man from several times in detention and to any description Zim could give him is ambiguous. He was a fairly quiet man, never talked out of terms and kept to himself always left in charge of maintaining authority of rowdy youngsters. Anyone who thought this man could handle the responsibility Zim wondered why and yet, who was he to judge. Mr. Marlasque seems to do a pretty good job of it. He always seems to be off distance whenever any delinquent yell out or tell him to fuck himself. Well, Zim had no interest in throwing his faults on Mr. Marlasque. He is here to dismiss his punishment and nothing more. It must be why Mr. Marlasque is smiling at Zim today. Zim slammed his books on any table he wanted preferably in the middle of the vacant classroom. Not too close and not too far. Zim sat down, the bell rang and began his punishment.

"Hello Zim, I'm Mr. Marlasque." He introduced. He rummage through a folder while he talked. "Today, I have a few assignments given by your teachers…Calculus was your first class…"

"That's right." Zim confirmed. Mr. Marasque took out the paper Mr. Holic emailed him in short notice. "Mr. Holic wants you to do chapter forty-seven through forty-eight as in-class work. Then chapter forty-nine for homework." Mr. Maslasque walked up to Zim. "Here's the notes Mr. Holic wants me to give you." The skinny man walked back to his desk. "You can do the forty-ninth chapter in class if you finish with the first two. Just to kill time." Mr. Maslasque offered then looked down in the folder. He sat at the desk. "If you have any questions, you can ask me."

"Are you a teacher?" Zim bothered to ask.

"No, I'm a counselor." Mr. Maslasque answered. Realizing there's no point of asking him calculus questions, Zim looked down at the notes studying them to see if he could understand. He understood a little but it had to do. Zim cracked open a book to begin the chapters. Throughout each bell ring, Zim moved to a different subject of study. When it was lunch, Zim missed so much the company of his friends and Mary's. Zim missed holding her hand at this time talking to her. Though the conversation they had on the bus wasn't meaningful, Zim still misses it. After he ate lunch, he went back to teaching himself the subjects. To the few minutes at the end of the day, Zim stared down the clock over Mr. Marlasque's head. He watched the clock tick by waiting for his boredom to evaporate. Zim stacked his books in anticipation of leaving this room. Finally, the last minute arrived and the day was over. Zim jumped to his feet happy in success of completing his first day. He grabbed his books off the table.

"See you later Mr. Marlasque." Zim shouted a farewell.

"Oh, see you tomorrow, Zim." Mr. Marlasque responded to Zim. Zim whistled as he got out of class. At the door waiting was Dib, who happen to have his last class period in this building.

"Hey," Dib said to Zim.

"Hi Dib," Zim said then glanced around. "Where's Mary?"

"She said she had to volunteer today so she sends her love." Dib said then stuck out his hand. "Here you go." Zim stared at the gesture strangely. "I'm not hugging you."

"Oh, no." Zim sighed disappointed she wasn't here. "It's okay, put your hand away."

Dib lowered his hand and walked with Zim to their locker.

"Is Mary mad at me?" Zim asked Dib.

"How should I know?" Dib really could not tell.

"You sat with her at lunch. Did she say anything about me?"

"No, she didn't." Dib said and thought it would be the end of the conversation but Zim kept talking.

"I don't know, it seems like she trying to act distant from me." Zim expressed the awkward feeling.

"Maybe she's not trying to be distant on purpose. She could need some space. She was assaulted last Saturday. Some people need to be in solitude to heal."

"She doesn't want to heal with me." Zim sadly stated.

"Zim, you're jumping to conclusions." Dib told him. "I think you're feeling distant because you've been stuck in that room all day. Isolation can drive any kid crazy to be out of touch in the skool world."

"Perhaps you're right." Zim agreed it was a possibility. "Maybe I can visit her at the orphanage and help out. I don't have a job anymore and I don't need to practice flying until dark. I have all this extra time I don't know what to do with."

"That's the perk of having a free schedule." Dib said while he found their locker and twist the combo for Zim. His hands were occupied with books.

"It's too free for me." Zim stated.

"How so?" Dib wondered by the estranged statement.

"I could do something more with my time preparing for the trip like collecting food or, I know!" An idea jumped in his head. "Getting in shape. That's right, I need to train to be at top physical strength."

"But you are in great shape." Dib said not to compliment rather annoyed he thinks he needs improvement.

"Human standards, yes. Not by Irken. Invaders train rigorously everyday to achieve such strength. I need to be more prepared like that."

"And how exactly are you to do that? We don't have a gym at home. You kidding, right? Us having a gym." Dib smiled as he pondered how his family would be like if they were concern about fitness.

"I wasn't asking if you had a gym. I know you don't. I was thinking sometime at home. I could jog too. There's lots of ways I could get in shape without a gym." Zim said then thought of only two options. "Maybe I go train under temporary membership?"

"Not likely one exists." Dib mentions.

"Whatever," Zim said and put three books into their locker. "I can jog or do push-ups."

Dib shook his head, took out his calculus book and shut the locker. Dib look yonder over Zim's shoulder at three boys marching their direction. Eyes locked on them and they appeared very angry. Recognizing this stance and motion from the times he got in trouble with his peers, Dib knew this could turn ugly. Dib elbowed Zim to warn him of the boys coming their way. The boys stopped as they made their arrival.

"Hey, are you Zim?" The cocky round boy in the middle asked. He was shorter than the others but his voice made up for his little below average height.

"Who wants to know?" Zim slapped the question back at the snappy kid.

"We're from the Track Team." The boy proclaimed. "Word in the hallways says you got our boy, Jamie suspended. Is this true?"

"I didn't suspend him." Zim said. "He got drunk and hit my girlfriend after Prom. That's how the bozo of your team got suspended. Oh, and I beat him up too."

"Zim, ex-nay on the beat-nay." Dib warned in incorrect Pig Latin.

"Jamie punched a girl!" The boy snapped outraged. "Stupid! How can he sink that low?"

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea." One of the boys admitted.

"It's probably why the coach was secretive when he told us." Spoke the much taller boy. He was a snazzy dressed brunet boy with piercings in his left ear.

"I know, I know." The snappy boy said then complained. "But God! How can he get drunk and screw us like that? The big Track Meet is this Friday and he was our best runner. Who else is gonna race in the 3000 meter long run?"

"We can improvise." One suggested.

"Fine, then you be runner, Ryan." He pointed the suggestion back at him.

"No way, I can only sprint. I can't run long distance. I get tired easy. Energy drinks can go so far." Ryan said then they turn to their other friend who was examining his fingernails. He glances to them.

"Hey, don't look at me. I got into Track to pole volt. I will not run and get sweaty." He protested.

"Gah, fuck you Andy!" He shouted.

"Hmmm…Yes, I would like to see that." Andy wise-cracked.

"Excuse me," Zim finally spoke. "I can't help to overhear since you guys are at my locker you need a runner. Just one question, do you have access to weight room?"

"What, you want to join our team?" The ringleader offered in a sarcastic tone.

"Precisely." Zim said. Dib was dumbfounded to hear this.

"Are you good?" He asked.

"I'm an excellent runner." Zim humbly boasted.

"Fine, be at the field in ten minutes." He said. "Don't waste our time." He warned Zim. They walked passed them outside to the field expecting his arrival. Dib stared to Zim in utter shock.

"Zim, what are you doing?" Dib questions out of surprise.

"Obtaining a gym that's what." Zim said cleverly creating his scheme then marched in the direction of the field. Dib walked with him.

"You can't be serious." Dib said. "Joining a team to train for your mission."

"I don't see any other option. I saw an opportunity and took advantage. I know the team seems a bit, how you say, rough but it's just the training I need." Zim explained. "I can join this team in no sweat."

"Oh, okay." Dib wearily agreed. "If you know what you're doing."

"You wanna watch?" Zim offered.

"Ehhh…" Dib stretched then shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not?"

Zim and Dib went outside and passed their gym to the track field. They saw the team members stretching on the grass in their white Cesspool View Hi-skool t-shirts and gray shorts uniforms. Zim and Dib walked to the man in charge wearing a blue jumpsuit, the coach, Mr. Lewisky. He was speaking with no other than Mr. Millmere, Zim and Dib's P.E. teacher. Mr. Millmere saw the boys and waved to say hello.

"Hello boys," Mr. Millmere greeted then stared to them awkwardly. "Why are you here?"

"I heard there was an opening for a runner. I would like to be that runner. For the 3000 meter run if I'm not mistaken or any other events." Zim said to them. Mr. Lewisky spied Zim's limber statue and had his doubts whether he was a perfect replacement.

"Have you competed in skool sports before?" Mr. Lewisky asked him.

"Noooo…" Zim stretched out his response realizing it could be the opposition in achieving his plan.

"Then I'm not sure you meet the stand points of joining our team so late in the season." Mr. Lewisky said. Mr. Millmere turned his head to Mr. Lewisky shocked.

"Are you kidding?" Mr. Millmere shouted. "I've been begging Zim to join a team all year!"

"Then you know he's in good shape?"

"He's more than in good shape. This boy is super strong. I don't know how he hides it but he's built. Stronger than an ox." Mr. Millmere tried to convince Mr. Lewisky. "Let the boy try-out. Let him run a lap. You'll see how fit he is."

"Okay, I'll give him a lap." Mr. Lewisky gave in then turns to Zim. "Alright Zim, you get one lap. Show me what you got."

"Will do." Zim said and took off his backpack, coat and handed them to Dib. Dib carried his stuff to the bleachers and sat down while Zim walked to the starting point of his lap. Zim stood at the line waiting to start. Mr. Lewisky stares at him.

"Don't you wanna warm up perhaps do some stretches."

"No, I'll be fine. I'm confident I won't strain myself." Zim expressed in a cocky attitude. Mr. Lewisky prepared his stop watch. Zim got into position by bending his knees and was in stance ready to run.

"On your mark, get set, go!" Mr. Lewisky shouted the final word. Zim bolted by Mr. Lewisky and ran to his first turn in a flash. Mr. Lewisky widens his eyes amazed how quick he passed him. The team watched in awe Zim has ran to the second turn, then the third turn and final without slowing down his speed. When Zim hit the checkpoint, he stopped automatically. A gust of his speed hit pass his back. Everyone shocked and in awe gawked at Zim wondering if what he did was even possible. Mr. Lewisky with seconds of hesitation clicked his stop watch and read the time. He couldn't believe the results.

"3.31 minutes. You completed a lap in three in half minutes. One mile in three and a half minutes! Unbelievable!"

The only girl on the team reacted to the results by throwing her towel on the ground.

"How the fuck does he do that?" She shouted displeased.

"Kate, language." Mr. Lewisky warned her not for the first time. Confident he shown his worth, Zim asked Mr. Lewisky:

"So, do I need to get the weight room key from you or another coach, Mr. Millmere?"

"Why do you want the weight room key?" Mr. Lewisky asked why he possibly needs it.

"I want to train, be better." Zim simply said.

"You can improve?" Mr. Lewisky shocked to say.

"Of course, I'm a little out of shape." Zim admitted it wasn't his best effort.

"Welcome to the team! I can give you the key only if you have a parent sign this permission form." Mr. Lewisky said then gave one to Zim he had on his clipboard. Dib thought Zim getting on the team was too good to be true. Then he thought of a disadvantage.

"But Zim's in skool suspension!" Dib shouted. The coaches glanced to Dib, Zim too wondering what he was shouting for. "I thought," Dib pauses then continue to speak. "Students in trouble weren't allowed to compete in sports."

Mr. Lewisky and Mr. Millmere glance at each other shortly then nodded.

"We'll find a way to make this work." Mr. Millmere said. Mr. Millmere and Mr. Lewisky took Zim aside to discuss uniforms. After the discussion, Zim and Dib hopped on the bus and return home to obtain Prof. Membrane's signature. Prof. Membrane read the form thoroughly, shrugged his shoulders and signed. Zim gratefully thanked him and he was out the door but Membrane faced unclear reasons of why Zim wanted to join a track team now before his leaving. During experimenting with his Dad, Dib revealed Zim's motive.

"Zim wants to train for the journey. That's why he joined track." Dib told his father. Prof. Membrane heard the explanation while reading the test charts of his latest home experiment.

"He had to join track to train? He can do it at home." Membrane stated.

"With what equipment? The skool has a weight room only assessable to athletes."

"Is that where my taxes go; to a weight room where certain individuals have access?"

"Yeah, I guess." Dib agreed and set up the tubes for the next stage in the experiment. "Either way, Zim's getting the training he needs. It may not be astronaut training but it's training to say the least."

"I suppose so as long as it helps him." Membrane said.

"It will be better training then what we been doing in gym class."

"And what have you been doing to shape your developing adult bodies?"

"Watching a documentary on the origin of baseball." Dib stated. Membrane stared at his son and agreed.

"He needs to be in track." Membrane accepted.

"Dad, can you imagine how our lives would be like if this was a weight room?"

"I fear not. Physical activity is good but too much can be harmful to the human body. Extreme exercising can result in damaging muscle tissue and internal organs. It can be dangerous." Prof. Membrane said. "Now, Son, fetch me the sulfuric acid on the top shelf would you please."

"Where on the top shelf?" Dib looked above him.

"It's next to the arsenic." Membrane became clearer in the location.

"Why do we carry poison in the lab?" Dib pondered to his father.

"Because it's safe in my lab." Membrane stated brightly. "Scientists are always safe."

"What about mad scientists who gone crazy?"

"That's a myth!" Membrane denied. "No respectful scientist could be crazy! Now get the sulfuric acid, these oranges are not going to boil themselves."

Dib handed him the plastic carton and they continue their experiment of creating chemical expose safe fruit.

The following morning, Zim attended skool to start again his boring self-tutoring. All class he has waited to go to track after skool, he looked forward to it. To get him out of this isolated punishment. He was a bit nervous meeting new people and can be nerve racking especially if you're not human. He had to be extra careful than usual to keep this secret. Zim anxiously watch the clock tick by. Atlas, it was two in the afternoon and skool let out. Zim said his goodbye to Mr. Marlasque and headed out the door. Zim really missed the company of Mary and his friends but knew training was important and ignored them for now until he felt adequate. Zim was on his way to the field until he was taken by the arm from the guy who addressed him yesterday about the opening in track. Zim stared at the boy bewildered of what he was doing.

"So you really want to join track. Be a team player." He asked him.

"Yes." Zim stated.

"Really now, tell me, do you want to win? You want to the best, bring our track team to glorify heights and beat those whiny other hi skools who think they're better than us. Fuck them, we got game!"

"Uh, sure." Zim agreed. The kid stared at him displeased.

"What was that?"

"Me agreeing." Zim admitted.

"Don't say it like that, say it with meaning." He said. Zim sighed knowing he won't be satisfied if he doesn't make a scene.

"I want to win! I want to run so fast they turn their heads and make their necks snap they have to wear neck braces!"

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" He joined in screaming.

"Who are you?" Zim asked while screaming.

"I'm Devin! Captain of the track team!" Devin shouted.

"Great! Why are we shouting?"

"Because it gets me pumped up! Let's go the field!"

"Okay!" Zim shouted then paused to adjust his volume. "Okay." Devin patted his back.

"I'll introduce you to the team." Devin said. Devin and Zim walked to the field and saw their teammates dressed in uniforms and stretching on the grass. Mr. Lewisky saw Zim and walked to him.

"Hello, Zim, Devin." Mr. Lewisky greeted him as well. "Do you have your signed permission slip?"

"Yes, Sir." Zim said then gave him the form.

"Exellent," Mr. Lewisky said and placed it in his clipboard then he gave him his uniform.

"Why don't you change and join us." Mr. Lewisky told him. "Here's the key."

"To the weight room?" Zim questions.

"To the locker room." Mr. Lewisky said. "I'll give you that key later."

"Don't just stand there. Get your ass dressed!" Devin commanded. Zim rolled his eyes and walked off the field into the gym, got dressed in the boys' locker room and went back to the field. By the time he returned, his teammates were training in their activities. Zim return the key to Mr. Lewisky.

"Hey, Zim, back from China? How was the trip?" Devin asked him.

"Pardon me?" Zim said confused.

"I'm kidding." Devin said. "You took so long changing."

"Oh, it was a joke." Zim exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Devin said. "Come on, I'll show you the dynamics of our team." Devin escorted him to his first teammates stretching his legs.

"You met him yesterday. This is Ryan. He's our sprinter. He sprints like a maniac." Devin shown Zim the ordinary looking kid with ginger dark brown hair and freckles on his face.

"Not as fast as Zim. Oh man, you run like you were superman, no, the Flash, definitely the Flash or even Astro-boy."

"He's a cartoon loony." Devin whispered to Zim.

"I'm not a loony." Ryan overheard him.

"Lay off the energy drinks and cartoons." Devin said.

"Never, anime is cool." Ryan defended.

"I don't even know what that is? Not a show I heard of."

"It's a genre, genre!" Ryan shouted. "Japanese cartoons."

"Weirdo." Devin said then walked away with Zim. "Let's move on to the next freak." Then he saw Kate jogging on the track. She was much taller and slender than Devin with lengthy brown hair kept up in a pony tail. "Speaking of freaks. Here's our next one. Hey Kate! Kate!"

"What do YOU want Devin?" Kate shouted.

"Kate, this is Zim. Zim, this is Kate, the only girl, if she is, on our team. Her specialty is hurdles. She runs and jumps like a mother, excuse me, father. Yeah, father."

"Shut your yap, Devin. You immature shit-head!" Kate lashed out.

"What a lady." Devin acted like he was charmed. Kate raised her hand and flipped him off while she ran to finish her lap. Devin smiled not fazed by the insult. He spotted another teammate and pointed to him. He was carrying a long pole.

"Oh, that's Andy. He's the queer." Devin pronounced to Zim. Andy glared at Devin.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Andy replied.

"What?" Devin question as though he's ignorant.

"You know what. Why you shouting to the new guy my sexuality?"

"I don't see why not. You told us when you joined the team. We're not homophobic. Are you homophobic, Zim?"

"No, I am not." Zim confessed.

"Ya see, nothing to worry about. You can change with us. The candy store still open." Devin said. Hearing the comment, Andy charged at him, lifts the pole and smacked Devin in the shoulder.

"Hey, watch it. Uh-oh."

"You discriminating little loud mouth troll!" Andy said smacking him with the pole.

"Ow, ow, ouch. Quit it!" Devin pleaded and ran away while Andy continues to chase him with the pole. Zim didn't join in this tom-foolery. Instead, he decided to introduce himself to the other boys in the team who were jogging upon the track. Zim waved to the two boys and they stopped their pace. The slightly taller boy raised his hand to shake Zim's.

"Hi, my name is Mike and this is my younger brother, Daemyn." Mike said then released Zim's hand. Zim did see the resemblance in the brothers. They were about the same height, boney skinny bodies and dark brown eyes similar to their complexion. Daemyn had longer dark brown hair than Mike who liked to keep his short, buzzed cut.

"My name's Zim." Zim said. "It's nice to meet you."

"No, it's nice to meet you." Mike insisted. "We are grateful you decided to join our team on short notice."

"You're really fast." Daemyn complimented.

"Thanks, I am fast but I will admit. I'm kinda out of practice. I'll do my best to run the race to my greatest ability."

"I think you can win, no doubt." Mike said while his brother agreed by nodding. "Though you should practice anyways, keep in shape."

"I plan to. That's why I'm here." Zim told the two brothers. Zim had met everyone on the team, almost everyone in exception of one guy. Zim waved to the final member as the mysterious stranger ran closer on the lap. Zim had a better view of him and knew who he was. Miguel, the douche bag in his P.E. class. Zim withdrawn his hand to stop waving but Miguel still approached him anyways. Miguel shot him a dirty look.

"Zim, what are you doing here?" Miguel asked.

"I'm on your team. I'll be running the 3000 meter dash."

"What? You're kidding me?" Miguel questioned his capacity to handle the race.

"No, I'm not. That's why I'm here." Zim said. Miguel scoffs a huff and glared at Zim.

"So you just happen to want to join our team." Miguel stated.

"Yeah, anything wrong with that?" Zim replied.

"No, it's suspicious, that's all." Miguel said.

"Yo, Miguel, back off dude." Mike told him. "If Zim wants to join the team, it's all good."

Miguel didn't say another word and walked off.

"Sometimes that boy takes sports too seriously." Mike shook his head.

"Alright team." Mr. Lewisky shouted. "I don't want anyone else playing with the equipment." Zim turned his head to Mr. Lewisky having the vault pole in his hands he took away from Andy. "We shouldn't be goofing off when the meet is this Friday. We made it to finals and we could win a trophy if we work hard. Everyone, warm up lap on the track then practice your specialty and we'll call it a day."

Zim joined his teammates in the run. He ran a steady pace not wanting to wear himself out. Then after the practice run, his team disbanded to perform their talents. Zim jogged on the track watching each teammate. Devin throwing javelin sticks, Andy pole vault over the estimated height and land on the cushion tarp. He saw Mike perform a long jump up to twelve inches and a half and pass by Ryan running sprints. To the right of the track, there was a separate section cut off where Miguel and Kate practice hurdles. The only person running with him was Daemyn so he kept pace with him a few times. Daemyn was a casual runner. Over an hour of practice, Mr. Lewisky called it a day and told them to go to their lockers and change. Mr. Lewisky handed Devin the boys' room key while Kate took the one for the girls. Zim specifically asked for the weight room's key since he wanted to train longer. His legs were tired but he still wanted to work with his arms. Mr. Lewisky gave him the key to keep for now and Zim walked with the boys to get dressed in normal clothes. Zim enter the locker room and mind himself of any goofy distractions. He sat on the bench and took off his shirt. Then he heard a startled yelp.

"Zim, dude, what happen to your back?"

Zim turned around suddenly seeing everyone. He didn't know who said it, but they all notice. They stared, waiting for an explanation. Zim quickly remembered the scares on his back and came up with a lie.

"I was hit by lightning at a very young age." Zim said.

"How young?" Devin asked.

"Ten." Zim replied.

"It looks like a major hit." Devin said.

"Yes, I was lucky to be alive." Zim admitted this truth.

"Is that why you have that thing on your back?" Daemyn asked pointing to it. The gap in which held his Pak.

"Yes, it's where the hospital hooked me up at the time to keep me on life support."

"Whoa," Andy said. "You are lucky to be alive."

"They had to hook you up to your back." Miguel said not believing him.

"Yes, that's what they did, Miguel." Zim snarled at the nosy human. Zim rediscovered insecurity with his past marks.

"Oh, I see, now I know why you run so fast." Devin crossed his arms staring at Zim.

"You do?" Zim startle to say.

"Because you were hit by lightning. It all makes sense." Devin said.

"Yea, you could have gained speed from lightning like a super hero." Ryan commented like a geek.

"Bullshit, nobody gains power from natural disasters." Miguel spat out reason.

"It could happen." Ryan didn't give up on this theory.

"Zim could be living proof." Mike chimed in.

"He's super fast. You could say he is lightning." Devin said then began to chant. "Lightning, lightning, lightning…"

One by one they joined in their captain's chant to welcome the newcomer and give him a snazzy nickname. Miguel didn't partake in the cheering, quickly got dressed, walked out of the locker room while they cheered Zim's new nickname. Zim left the locker room satisfied he made new friends and was accepted in the team. When Zim return home from skool after training, he was so sore he had to call off the flight lesson. He went straight to bed but didn't shut his eyes until he made a certain phone call. He was calling Mary. He wanted so much to speak with her, tell her he joined a team and care to know of her day and adventures she may have. Zim made the call but couldn't reach her. She didn't answer the phone. Zim hung up and dropped his cell phone on the bed for which he laid. He drifted off to sleep and when he awoke, it was another day more special than before because it was the final day of his in-skool suspension. Zim picked himself up and went to skool. With no motive to acquire trouble, he continues to be on his best behavior with Mr. Marlasque to avoid any confrontation that could give him another day to the sentence. To that in mind, Zim completed all the class work and was caught up with his studies ready to once again join the mainstream population. He sat patient awaiting the final bell. He glanced at the clock then to Mr. Marlasque. The counselor had nothing significant to say, Zim was behaved and it surprised him. Most of the students refused to do skool work but not him. The minute pass by and skool was over. Zim stood from his books to the door.

"Have a great summer." Mr. Marlasque said as his final farewell. Zim completely forgot summer vacation was soon and turn to Mr. Marlasque.

"That's right." Zim recalled then smiled. "You have a good summer too, thank you."

Zim walked out the door and to the lockers. He planned to meet Dib so he can help him in the weight room and watch so he didn't hurt himself. It wasn't a practice day for track, so Zim thought it was a perfect day to train. Zim met Dib right on time and they went to the gym. They enter to the right into the weight room. After an hour or so, Torque Smacky and a few of his friends enter the room ready for a session of intense weight lifting to increase their game in lacrosse. As they enter into weight room, they see someone they thought would never see in a place like this ever. They saw Dib standing over somebody lifting weights.

"Hey, you!" Smacky shouted and pointed to Dib. "Brainiac, what are you doing here?"

"I'm spotting my friend." Dib said as he stood above the bench press.

"Who?" Smacky asked if any jock would consider a friend. The mysterious stranger lifted the weights and Dib helped him put it back on the spot. The person sat up and saw it to be Zim.

"Zim!" Smacky shouted literally shocked. "How the fuck did you get in here?"

"I joined the track team." Zim said. "Now if you ladies are done staring I have to get to training."

"How is weightlifting part of track training? Don't they usually run?" Smacky pointed out.

"You're right, for once. I'm not required to bulk my upper body. I thought I should build my strength for other purposes like for anyone who asks too many questions." Zim dropped an alarming hint.

"Okay, okay." Smacky said getting a clue. "Come on guys, let's work our biceps."

They walk to the other side of the room where there was another set a dumbbells.

"Zim, you scared him shitless." Dib whispered.

"I know I did." Zim said pleased watching them train in their little posse corner. "Though I don't mind their company as long as they keep their mouths shut."

"Okay." Dib accepted and picked up a nearby ten-pound dumbbell. Dib lift it up and down to flex his right arm. He glanced at Zim taking in deep breaths. "Taking a break or you done?"

"Taking a break." Zim said. "Lifting fifty pounds over my chest was tough."

"I bet." Dib agreed. Zim, curious of many things, wondered how everyone was and decided to take their conversation off topic.

"So, um, how are things?" Zim asked.

"Things are good. I'm getting along with Leena. Her and I are going on a date this Saturday."

"Cool, how are our friends?"

"They're fine. Still trying to get a turn to fly the ship."

"How's Mary?" Zim popped the next question. Dib glanced to Zim. The small talk revealed Zim's true agenda.

"She's alright although she has become very quiet then again I might be the only one who noticed and can be wrong. I've been paying too much attention texting Leena to differentiate any change in Mary's behavior. Are things okay with you two?" Dib asked.

"I don't know." Zim admitted. "I tried to call her yesterday but she didn't pick up. I'm worried she might be mad at me."

"Mad at you for what?"

"For maybe ignoring her last couple of days."

"Zim, you were in trouble. I think she would understand. She wouldn't be angry for your in-skool suspension. You're worrying over nothing. You'll see her tomorrow and realize everything's fine."

"But she didn't answer her phone."

"Don't you remember having this same conversation with me after she was grounded?"

"No,"

"People don't always answer their phones, she missed your call. Ah, Zim, why must I have this conversation with you? If you are concern, call her again tonight. You'll see she missed your call on accident."

"Okay, I'll give it another try before I jump to conclusions."

"There you go." Dib said and rolled his eyes. "Is that all you want to talk about?"

"For now, yes." Zim said.

"Then break's over. Get back to training you worry wart of a dumbbell and give me another fifty pounds." Dib demanded him. Zim smiled and lay on the bench to lift fifty pounds before he call it quits and train the biceps. After the complete work-out, Zim and Dib go to his house to take the ship out for a practice drive. Gaz was home awaiting Zim to be his co-pilot and teach him the order of controls. Zim was a bit shaking but has improved. He didn't throw up like last time. He adjusted to increasing acceration. Zim return home after a day of improvement. He felt successful and truiph and yet incomplete missing of the joy. Zim missed Mary. He missed her too much. He picked up his phone hoping she would respond. Hearing her voice would be all he needed to make him happy. She answered his call.

"Hello?"

Zim stuttered before he said a word.

"Mary," He didn't know what else to say. His brain was set on her not answering.

"Zim, how are you?" Mary asked then said. "Is everything okay?" After a long half minute silence, Zim snapped out of it a chuckled nervous giggle.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine." Zim said. "How are you doing?"

"Good, the same old, same old." Mary said.

"Good, ordinary is always…good."

"Yeah, Zim…" Mary agreed. "I heard from Dib you joined the track team."

"It wasn't hard, now I can use the weight room to train for the mission."

"That's great." Mary said.

"The meet is this Friday at our skool. You should come and watch me out run the competition and leave them second guessing."

"I will go." Mary said. "Is your suspension over?"

"Yes, I can eat lunch with you tomorrow." Zim said.

"I would like that. Then I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay!"

"Zim, I love you." Mary whispered through the phone.

"I love you too, Mary." Zim said. Zim heard the phone click before he could utter another word. Zim found it odd the way and why she told him she loved him. Zim sat on the bed contemplating whether it was genuine love or sadness in Mary's expression. He could not tell. The night left him in worry and morning didn't help much either when going to skool. He felt worn and tired of all the damage he did yesterday to his body and soul. His calling her didn't comfort him; it made him feel unsure, in question of their relationship. It was struggling. He knew he had to do something to make Mary happy with him again. He was determined to keep her happy and sort out any form of neglect he had caused to make her utter those four words sadly. He caught the bus and automatically saw Mary and sat next to her. Zim smiled a grin and Mary mimics it. Zim could not bear the charade and went out and said it.

"Mary, is something bothering you, something I did?"

"No, nothing. Why?" Mary said perplexing of why Zim asked her these questions.

"I don't know. It feels like you're mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?" Mary chuckled then patted his hand. "I'm not mad at you."

"You're not mad at me?"

"Nu-uh." Mary said while she shook her head.

"Oh, okay." Zim let go of conflict he may have created. Perhaps he read too much in their conversation last night. Mary doesn't act like she's displeased. Zim wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Mary replied then snuggled closer to his chest.

"Mary, did you want to watch me practice after skool down at the track? We can go somewhere later."

"Sure, I'll come and watch." Mary said.

"I'll get to see you after skool too." Zim said thrilled she agreed to come. Zim and Mary sat quietly on the bus to skool in the few exceptions of Dib bragging about his possible new girlfriend. Zim knew he was excited and let him brag after all, things were alright. This week has been smooth considering Zim was in trouble. He was able to join track for training purposes and he was relearning how to fly a ship. The crew went to skool and enters the hallways. When walking side by side with Mary, Zim met Mike in the hallway.

"What's up, Lightning?" Mike said while he and Zim knocked fists.

"Not much, see you at track?" Zim asked.

"I'll be there." Mike said then waved goodbye. Mary and Dib stared peculiar at Zim.

"Lightning?" Dib questioned.

"It's my nickname because I run super fast." Zim briefly explained.

"Okay, Lightning." Dib snickered. Zim recognized the mocking chuckle.

"What, I think it's cool." Zim defended his other name.

Zim said his goodbye to Mary as both Zim and Dib entered first period together. When in the classroom, Dib disbanded from Zim to see Leena. Zim didn't mind it and sat at his seat. The bell rang moments later and class begin. It was review session in Mr. Holic's class since final exams are sometime next week. Zim moaned he had to prepare for testing again then discovered he was not too far behind than he thought and pepped up. It could be worse. In second period, Mr. Millmere had his classmates run laps. Zim found running laps to be a unfair way of grading but he did it anyways and got an A being the first person to cross the finish line. During the class, Miguel snuck a few glares any direction he met eye contact. Zim rolled his eyes and ignored Miguel. Third period, Zim took a test with the rest of his peers. He told Mrs. Fletcher he was reading the novel in suspension class and can take the test. He didn't want to fall behind and be delayed on his adventure, how terrible and demanding the adventure will be. At lunch, he met up with his friends and sat next to Mary as though he been here the entire week. He told his friends what he was up to the last few days and was in track and invited them to watch the track tournament at their skool.

"You're competing in a track tournament?" Josh questioned. "Most kids who get in trouble take it easy but you; you join a team and competing?"

"Yep, I'll be running the 3000 meter race for our skool. I may compete in a relay if it's part of the program."

"You're crazy." Josh uttered.

"I have to get in shape somehow. On my planet, we Invaders go through vigorous training to be the power houses that we are to conquer planets. I must do this to maintain and keep up with them and to keep myself safe too from physical danger."

"We support you, Zim." Tina said. "And we all love to watch your track meet tomorrow. When does it start?"

"Directly after skool on the field. Come early and find some good seats. Competing are other people from three high skools in the area."

"Alright, we will." Tina said. "This is so exciting, watching others race and do things. It will be like watching the Olympics, right Mary?"

"Yea, it will be fun." Mary said not as excited as Tina. His friends chatter on about the race tomorrow. Dib told Zim his Dad may come if he isn't busy but Zim said it was alright if he didn't come. Through the chatter, Zim gain comfort by holding Mary's hand despite the lack of speaking to each other. It was all Zim needed since he knew Mary was meeting him after skool. When lunch ended, they return to class and completed the day. He received a text Mary would meet him soon so he came to the field without her. Zim changed and was ready for a day of running his ass off. Zim directly went to the field and met his teammates.

"Are you ready to push it to the limit?" Devin shouted to Zim holding his shoulders.

"Yea, get out of my face." Zim told him. Devin patted his shoulder.

"Good, no pussy footing around, no offense Kate."

"Up yours!" Kate snapped.

"Wonderful!" Devin smirked. "Everyone's ready?" Devin glances to Zim, Ryan, Andy, Miguel, Mike, Daemyn and Kate as they nod one by one. "Let's do this!"

"Alright everybody, one lap around the field." Mr. Lewisky butted in. Devin glared at his coach.

"I thought we were practicing for the meet tomorrow. Shouldn't we train in our specialties instead run?"

"Practice is practice, I just received the events for the tournament. There will be a relay so everyone on the field, then we'll train in other areas."

When they completed their stretches, they huddled on the field and ran two to a track line. Zim, Kate, Miguel was to front while Devin, Andy, Ryan and Daemyn was to back. Their coach gave the word to start and Kate and Miguel were in the lead while the others grouped together in a joint jogging. Zim heard all of Devin's complaints.

"I can't believe I'm stuck running. I hate running. I throw things not run."

"Speak for yourself," Andy commented. "I'm going home and taking a long shower."

"I like running," Daemyn said. "It's what I'm good at."

"Ditto," Ryan agreed. "I like running really fast. Zim, you must like to run too."

"I really don't have a say in the activity. I'm good at it, but I don't really like it. I prefer other things."

"Like what?" Daemyn asked.

"Laying around the house watching T.V."

"Me too, my mom made me join track to get me out of the house." Ryan replied. "If I had it my way, I would be at home watching a season straight of Breach."

"You lazy bum." Devin shouted. "I'm glad your mom forced you to join our team." Ryan smiled and said nothing. "I can't believe you guys are yapping your traps and not focusing on the lap!"

"The lap is practice, to warm us up." Daemyn reminded Devin.

"So, everyone should be running at 110%." Devin said then turn to Zim. "Especially you Zim, get those legs working. I know you can run faster than us."

"I will later, I like talking to you guys." Zim admitted.

"What is it a tea party, get your ass in gear!"

"Nah," Zim said. "Feels good running at this pace." Just then, Kate appeared from behind running another lap around them. She jogged in place.

"What are you guys doing?" Kate shouted. "You're way too slow."

"Don't get so excited, Kate." Devin warned her. "It's a warm up lap."

"Wll, you better warm up." Kate told them. "I seen five-year-olds run faster than you all combined." She ran past the guys leaving any pride wounded.

"Thanks, thanks Kate for your lousy pep-talk! Thank you!" Devin shouted and watches her run off the track to set up the hurdles. "Man, she is hot!"

Zim, couldn't believe what he heard, turn to Devin but still maintain his pace undisturbed.

"Devin, you like Kate?" Zim questions the odd confession.

"Yes, I do." Devin admitted. "She's awesome."

"Okay…" Zim said.

"Everyone knows you have a major crush on her." Mike stated.

"Do you all, now?" Devin asks whether they know.

"Yeah, she's the only one you pick on other than Andy, unless you have a crush on him too."

"Do you really, really, like me, Devin?" Andy teased him.

"No way, man!"

"That's fine. You're not my type, anyways." Andy said not inflicted by his rejection.

"You should tell her how you feel." Mike said. "Let her know you care."

"Please, a girl like Kate needs more gumption to impress her. I have to be secretive, alluring. Make her like me as much as I do." Devin said then saw Kate and shouted. "Is that how you set up hurdles? Any monkey can pass those jumps."

"Shut up, Devin!" Kate screamed. "You don't even know how to hurdle you out of shape lug-nut!"

To the corner of his eye, Zim saw Mary walk on the track field and took a seat on the first bleacher. Delighted, Zim waved to her.

"Who's that?" Ryan asked spotting Mary sitting on the bench.

"She's my girlfriend, Mary."

"She's cute." Ryan said. "I bet she look even cuter in the maid outfit."

Zim was stunned Ryan said this about Mary or anybodies' girlfriend and said, "Devin's right, you are a weirdo."

"What, I think all girls would look great in uniforms. School uniforms for girls would be cool."

"What about us guys." Andy asked him.

"Only girls would wear uniforms in my fantasy. The guys can wear whatever they want."

"Even speedos?" Andy suggested.

"No speedo!" Ryan tried to erase.

"Uh-huh, yep, and that is why no girls like you." Andy said.

"You don't know that." Ryan shouted.

"Yes, I do." Andy said then ran off the track field.

"Wait! What are they saying about me!?" Ryan picked up speed and followed Andy. The team began their activities while Ryan kept haggling Andy for the answer he seek to make girls like him. Andy pole vaulted a ten foot jump to get away from Ryan. Devin practice javelins and shot puts, Mike did long jumping while Miguel and Kate hurdle.

Everyone had a role to play Mary could see. She watched Zim run quick and pass Daemyn twice on the lap. She was very impressed by Zim's speed and seeing no problems competing in the race. Andy landed on the blue cushion of the tarp, and then stood up. He patted any dirt off and took a seat inches beside Mary to catch his breath. Mary smiled shy to Zim's teammate. Andy grinned too.

"Hi, I'm Andy." He introduced. "You must be Mary."

"Zim talks about me?" Mary asked him.

"He pointed you out when you came on our field." Andy told her. "I heard our former teammate, Jamie, punch you in the eye. Sorry someone of our team did this."

"Yeah…but Zim got him back, big time." Mary said and rubbed her eye remembering the sensation.

"Lucky you for having a strong man to defend you." Andy admitted. Mary look down to her shoes, then glance up to Zim who ran freely on the lap.

"Zim says he'll always protect me." Mary said then stares at the locket strung from her neck. "How long would that last?"

She whispered, Andy heard her and frown. Mary kept an eye on Zim speaking to Devin. Devin spoke loudly.

"We should hang out this summer, Zim, before skools starts."

"I'm sorry, Devin. I have to decline. I must go on a trip all summer."

"Don't hide it. You hate me. I understand." Devin joked.

"No, really. I'd like to but I have to go. It's very important I leave immediately when skool let out. I'm not sure when I would return either."

"What kind of trip is this Zim that it would take all summer?" Devin questions.

"It's an important, personal issue I need to handle." Zim gravely said then walk away.

"Man, when did things get serious?" Devin questioned Ryan who stood beside him. Mary, the enigma of emotions, contains much weighing sadness on her heart hearing Zim speak. Andy study the expression on Mary's face change from gloom to it concealed when Zim approached them.

"Mary, I'm so glad you came." Zim told her. Mary smiled. "Practice should be over soon. Just a few minutes and we can go, okay?" Mary nodded then Zim walked over to Mr. Lewisky. She released her smile to her fluster state. Andy patted her shoulder as he stood up. Mary look up to him.

"You take care of yourself." Andy said then decided to attempt one more pole-vault before he called it a day. Mary felt tears swell in her eyes but didn't shed them. She couldn't bear to cry, not here. Mary fixed her composure when Zim talked to her again. He said he needs to get dress and meet him in the gym. Several minutes pass as Mary waited for him. She stood arms crossed in the hallways outside both of the locker rooms. Eventually, Zim walked out, backpack ready to go. He smiled to Mary.

"Sorry if I took too long." Zim apologized. Mary shook her head.

"No, you didn't." Mary said.

"Good, let's get out of here." Zim said then held her hand. Zim led her out the back door and took a corner to the main path off campus. Zim kept up with the chatter while he believed Mary was listening. He was talking of the tournament tomorrow excited to participate. Mary could tell he was happy and she wondered why? Why was he so happy while she was miserable? Miserable of his leaving or miserable she must keep her feels locked in her heart like an unbearable sting she could not overcome. Mary halted her steps and let Zim walk without her.

"We are competing against everyone in the district. I heard it will be hard but nothing I can't-" Zim ceased speaking once he realized Mary wasn't following him. He turns around to see Mary stood, head lowered looking to the ground. "Mary, what's wrong?"

"Don't go. Don't go on the mission. Stay here on Earth." Mary said atlas. Zim stared tense at Mary. His eyes met hers. No words to fill the void, it grew larger.

"I can't stay. I have to go." Zim finally said. She bit her lower lip. Overcome with the decision she could hardly speak. Tears form from her eyes. Zim stepped forward and she took one back.

"Why…What would you gain leaving here and joining in their fight? They don't care about you. I...I hate them." Mary stuttered and covered her eyes with her hands.

"Mary, please." Zim said and put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't cry."

Mary refused his touch and jolted from his hand.

"No…" She murmured and continues to cry.

"Mary, I have no other choice. I have to go. I must go for everyone, for me and for you. It's the only way I know you would be safe."

"How would you know?" Mary lashed out. "How would you know this, that-that- once you leave, they-they-"

"It's not my responsibility. It is Dib's when I go along with his father. This is my path and my path alone."

"Why alone, I can go with you and-"

Zim shook his head. "You know I can't risk getting you involved. You have to stay on Earth where I know you'll be safe."

"Where I will be safe?" Mary bitter to remark. Her sorrow transformed to anger. "What about you? How will I know you'll be safe?"

"You wouldn't." Zim said realizing this disadvantage and sadly remarked. "You wouldn't know."

"Then why, why do you have to leave me? I thought we would be together. I thought I would never be alone. You promised you always be there for me. Now, I don't know what to do." Mary cries in her hands and buried her face. Zim tries his best to comfort her but when he placed his hand on Mary's arm, she withdrawn.

"Go!" Mary shouted uncovering her face. Zim, surprised by this reaction responded.

"Mary, I can't leave you like this."

"Just go. You made your decision." Mary said turned away from Zim. Zim stood conflicted by what she said and then felt he had to say something.

"Yes, I made this decision not for me but for you. When they called me, nothing crossed my mind than the thought of protecting you. You, Mary, as sweet as you are. I want to believe everyone can be genuinely kind like you. It was my motivation. You and Earth are worth something to protect because I love you. I love you so much I would risk my life for the sake of yours and if it means breaking your heart, I have no choice. I'm sorry."

He dismissed from her and left. He didn't know what to do. If he attempt to comfort, he will fail and be pushed away. He didn't hear her say a word so he felt nothing else he could say would change the situation or the grief she has felt through the whole ordeal. Mary turned around and watched him leave. She thought this is what she wanted, to handle herself emotionally but when he left, she fell apart like fatal erosion worn to the nub. She dropped on the sidewalk and cried, cried like never before. She was aware of his burden, the danger yet she expected so much of him. It upset her to the point of disgust how she depended on Zim. How much she loved him, how much he loved her to risk everything for her. She stare silent at the locket hanging under her chin and slipped out another tear.

"Why am I so selfish?" She stated her personal struggle. She sat there with no answer apparent in darkness of her gloom.

Zim faced his own struggle having to leave his sweetheart on the sidewalk with no solution to solve her insecurities. Leaving open wound cut and not sealed. Zim arrived at the stop undetermined of what to do. He looked up at the stop and decided to walk. Walking would surely clear his mind but to the moment of keeping a pace, he couldn't help to repeat what happened five times until he arrived in his neighborhood. He didn't want to think about it so he banged his fist on Dib's door a couple of times and enter. Dib welcomed him in and asked why he was here so early. Zim gave him a half-ass excuse and explained no more. When it became dusk, he performed the task of a semi-perfect test flight. He accomplished the order of lift-off correctly but had trouble landing the craft. It was something he had to work on. Gaz even noticed Zim was bothered. When she gave him instructions, he wasn't quick to criticize. He did them directly. Gaz was relieved he wasn't in the mood to argue. After the lesson, Zim returns home. He sat on the couch overlooking the activity Gir and Minimoose were doing. They were involved in quilt making. They sat to opposite sides of the quilt sewing in the patterns in the kookiest manner. As much as they try to align, the patterns were sewn askew. The colors were bright and obnoxious like most creative quilts. The base was bright red with animal shaped or blocked patterns. They were creating a critter theme. Zim spied down on the design and smiled.

"That's a nice quilt you guys are making." Zim complimented. Gir let out a glee shrill and smiled.

"It's pretty!" Gir said then finish stitching another pattern. Minimoose passed a pattern of a bunny to Gir so he can get started on it. Minimoose returns to sewing his pattern of a purple block. Zim kept his eyes low watching their project then again began to linger in depressing thoughts of Mary and how he wasn't able to do anything to make her feel better. Zim frowned and remained quiet, so silent it got Gir's attention. He looked up at his distraught master in worry.

"What's wrong?" Gir emphasized a sympathetic groan.

"Nothing." Zim replied and lied to them. Gir literally knew nothing was something is wrong and Minimoose knew it too.

"You wanna quilt?" Gir asked being polite.

"No, I don-"

Before he could resist, Minimoose hovered the quilt over and upon his shoulders. Zim smiled to show it was okay.

"Thanks, but really, I'm fine." Zim picked up his voice to be more cheery. Gir hopped on his lap and gave Zim a hug while Minimoose rubbed his head on his left shoulder. Zim hugged both of his robots feeling much better. "Thank you," he replied. A brief moment of ease came and passed in Zim's night.

The next morning, Mary took an earlier bus to skool. She was avoiding Zim not out of hate, but guilt of creating more pressure upon him. She felt guilty of what happened yesterday. She didn't know who she could talk to help. Mary's father was out of town and couldn't even express little of her regret. She wanted to apologize but didn't know how. Mary tortured herself in ways she can express her apologies yet no answer came forward. Her embarrassment was too great to say anything to Zim, not at her current state. She felt she would make things even worse if the apology came out wrong. For now, she would have to avoid until she finds the courage to overcome these emotions before she faced Zim. She knew it had to be done for both their sakes. So through out the day, she went on pretending the dilemma was harmless and paid as much attention in class. The pain was still aching. When it was lunch, she found refuge in the library. She wasn't hungry, she felt ill wondering how she can apologize or how she could be so weak and surrender her strength in Zim's time of need. How can she be so courageous when she was riddled with doubts of his return and fear of the worst case scenario of losing the one she cared, the one Mary loved? Soul searching in the solitude of the library helped her. She knew what she had to do. She had to have faith and be brave. Believe in Zim and not let the doubts cloud her judgment. She sat up from the chair where she completed her contemplation and arose from the table. The warning bell strikes for lunch to be over. The answer and courage she had internally seek has risen. After skool, she was to go to the track tournament and support him then afterwards, she plan to meet and talk with him about everything. Few months ago, when Mary comforted Zim and promised they will find a way, she meant it. She wasn't going to give up easily on their love even if fate plays otherwise.

The last bell rang, just moments away before the start of the tournament with three other high skools in the district. Zim had what humans called, "butterflies in the stomach" syndrome. He was very nervous for many reasons. One the meet, the other Mary. Zim didn't see her during lunch and it concerned him. Zim thought over same question the entire day. What will become of them? No peace could he accomplish until he saw her. Zim figured he wouldn't find it today; he had a job to do and a team who relied on him. Zim arrived to the gymnasium and joined his team. After changing, they enter the field where they saw the crowds seated in all four by eight bleachers left to right towering above. Occupancy exploded from the bleachers of cheering spirited fans rooting for their skools. Zim stared surprised to see so many people showed up to the event.

"Wow…" Zim moaned then stepped back a little bit intimidated by the crowd. "So many people…"

Devin overheard Zim's observation and patted his back.

"Yep, it's the finals. Let's do our best and crush the competition." Devin encoruraged. Zim spotted the other kids competing from other skool and they appeared to be promising opponents. Zim walked forward and joined the others while they do their stretches. Beyond the field, Mary approached the bleachers. She was shocked how packed it was and it discouraged her she wasn't able to find a descent seat. Just then, a crazy girl shouted, "Maaarrryyy! Over here!"

She looked up to see Tina waving sitting with her friends. Josh, Dib, Leena, Brian and Penny in that order, from left to right. She walked up the left side of the bleachers all the way to the end. She sat by Tina on the bench.

"Mary, we are surprised to see you." Tina blankly expressed. "We thought you were sick."

"Yeah, where were you during lunch?" Dib butted in a question.

"I was busy." Mary meekly answered.

"With what?" Dib responded. Mary didn't say, instead she opened her backpack and grab the lunch she forgot to eat. Mary unwrapped the plastic off her sandwich and took a bite. She cleverly avoided his question. Dib ducked away and turn to watch the events begin. The first was sprints. Their teammate, Ryan stood at the starting point along with three others from different skools. Ryan was quick to sprint and won the 60 meter and 100 meter dashes. He was very hyper. He ran to his teammates screaming, "Blue Bull gives me legs, Blue Bull gives me legs!" Everyone could hear him screaming but they moved on to the next event. While setting up hurdles, shot puts were ready to be thrown. Devin threw his the farthest of any other players, 10.24 meters. He boasted how strong he was to Kate but she told him to shut up. She ran the hurdles alongside the others and won second place. Kate blamed Devin for distracting her. They tally the score and they were head to head competition with Break Way High for first place. That's when the team of Cesspool View Hi-skool brought the heat. Mike won the long jump pouncing forward 1 yard while Break Way won the discus throw over Devin. Pole vaulting was easy for Andy, the other teams' members struggle to pass over the bar of 3 yards in the air. Mike redeem what was lost in the discus throw by winning the high jump but Miguel lost in the 100 meter hurdle by tripping over the fourth hurdle stand. Mr. Lewisky helped Miguel up and sat him on the bench to treat the gash on his left knee. Devin tried to win the javelin, his worst sport activity, for his team but failed getting fourth place. Devin cursed numerously and was asked to sit down by the referee for poor sportsmanship. Everyone was surprised to hear the 'f-word' so creative. Dib stared at Devin and said, "I need to remember that one." Josh nodded and agreed. Devin cursed more sitting on the bench. Mr. Lewisky shook his head. "I told you to watch your mouth, Devin."

"I know, I know, fuck, I had to lose the javelin throw. Gosh, what's wrong with me?"

"You suck, that's why." Kate said.

"Shut up, you didn't win anything so I don't want to hear any lip from you!" Devin shouted.

"Kids, kids," Mr. Lewisky intervene and broke the conflict before it began. "The meet is not over yet. We have two events we could win first place. We still have a chance."

"What's next?" Devin asked.

"The relay, then the final event, the 3000 meter run. Devin, I suggest you stay put."

"And this time, I agree with you, coach." Devin accepted his decision.

"Okay, Daemyn, you lead the first 100 meter, then Kate, Mike, and Zim, you run the last 100 meters to pick up any slack if needed."

"Yes, Sir." Zim took on his duty but Miguel protested.

"Let me run, coach. I can do it."

"You cannot run; your knee is badly injured. You should ease off it for awhile." Mr. Lewisky suggested. Miguel sat down listening to what Mr. Lewisky said. The four joined the other twelve kids ready to race and found their positions for the baton 4x400 meter relay. Tina spotted Zim standing close to them and shouted.

"Zim, Ziiimmmmm!" Tina screamed waving her arms wildly in the air. Zim peeked over his shoulder hearing her. He saw friends wave and waved too then stopped to see Mary came as well to the event. Zim's smile turn to shock she was here. Zim didn't know how to react. He caught her eyes in the crowd. Mary smiled at him but Zim lowered his head and turned away not knowing her true intensions. Was she here for support or reject him? He couldn't tell by her weak little smile. Zim tried his best to focus on the race watching the first runner start. Mary realized Zim was giving her the brush off and knew she must go apologize to him and clear up anything between them. When Mike grasped the baton, Zim watched Mike run to him. Zim grabbed the baton and ran to the finish line winning first place. Everyone came by to give Zim a pat on the back and a few encouraging words for the greatest and final event that could win it for their skool. The 3000 meter race.

"Remember Zim, conserve your energy." His coach gave him advice. "You don't want to wear out early. It's a seven and a half lap race. Take your time."

"Take my time and don't run too fast. Got it." Zim chanted the key components.

"You better not lose this for our team, Zim." Miguel had the nerve to threaten.

"Hey, I don't have to take that from a guy who tripped over a hurdle and lost." Zim shouts at him. Kate, who witness their little spat, stood there and nodded in Zim's favor.

"Good luck." Miguel retract his insult. Zim rolled his eyes and thanked him.

"Whatever you do, don't choke." Devin warned him. "Sure everyone is watching you run, but you can always pretend they aren't there."

"Okay, thank you." Zim said not sure if he was helpful.

"Give it all you got." Andy cheered to him.

"Do your best." Daemyn encourages. Zim walked to the starting line in preparation of the race. Zim stretched his legs to become more limber. The referee informed the racers to meet at the line to start. Zim bend to his knees to compose the stance of a true runner ready to begin this long race. All four of each team was ready to race. The referee popped the air pistol up and they were off. All skools watched them run and complete the first lap with Zim in the lead. Dib stood up and screamed.

"Way to run, Zim! Lightning, Lightning, Lightning, Lightning!" Dib chanted.

"Lightning?" Josh question his enthusiasm and the name he's shouting.

"It's his sport nickname." Dib made clear. Josh then stood up and chanted.

"Lightning, Lightning. Lightning!"

Dib joined in chanting and so did the group supporting Zim. By the third lap everyone to one side of the field were chanting Lightning. Even people of the opposing teams were screaming Lightning. They were partially confused. Zim stared perplexed why they were screaming his nickname. Then he realized it wasn't screaming, it was cheering. They were cheering for him. It certainly boosted his ego having the whole skool cheering for him yet it terrified him having so many people depending on his victory. Zim tried not to think about it and center his attention on the race but he lost in contemplation of what bothered him the most; the thought of losing Mary. Losing her as his girlfriends because of his choice to face his past and become an Invader than stay here with her. Then his mind consumed him of why she was here. Did she forgive him or is she here to end this, their relationship. It bummed him out so he tried again to put it out of his head. Zim ran faster in his attempt. His friends stare in wonder of his unusual pick-up fast pace.

"What's he doing?" Dib pondered. "He's only on his sixth lap. It's too soon to go really fast."

Zim had a grave mistake running the pace he did and when he was to turn the fourth arch, he tripped over his feet and slid on the track gravel. The crowd grasped when Zim took his spill. Zim pushed himself off the ground but still sat on the track. His knee and ankle ached but it didn't harm him. He sat there watching the other runners pass him. He did not see the point in continuing. In his mind eye, he lost. He lost what was important to him, Mary. Mary saw he was to admit failure and got out of her seat. She ran to the stadium rail. It was clear to her, now or never, her apology came bursting out of her mouth.

"Zim, Zim!" She screamed. Zim looked up to see her. "Don't give up! I'm sorry for yesterday, the way I behaved. I don't want you to give up! I want to support you and make you believe everything's going to be okay and nothing to worry when you are gone. So don't give up and come back to me! I love you!"

The genuine confession inspired Zim and provoked him to stand to his feet. His eyes kept on her then he darted. Ambitions swell through him with the determination and confidence to win this race. When he crossed into the seventh lap, he passed by two runners and made pace with the current first runner from Break Way High. With half a lap to go, Zim picked up his pace and passed by being first place. The crowd went wild excited Zim was able to catch up in little time and won. He passed through the finish line and won first place in the 3000 meter. His team ran and piled on him to show their appreciation. Cesspool View Hi-skool won the tournament making them the best track team in the county. Everyone was screaming. Through his little huddle, Zim gazed to Mary while she smiled to Zim. Zim escaped from the embraces of his teammates and walked towards the inner rim of the stadium looking up at Mary who was above him. Mary desired to meet him but everyone was so excited and at an uproar, they were out of their seats making it difficult to get to the exit. Mary decided a different route. She climbed over the railing. Zim watched and waited to catch her in his arms. Mary took the leap and relied on Zim. He caught and held her in his arms. They touched lips reunited in their kiss.

Caught in the moment witnessing their kiss, Devin glance to Kate and smiled.

"What the hell." Devin gave up being stubborn, went up to Kate and kissed her lips. Kate was stunned he kissed her. Devin could not tell whether she was upset or enjoyed it. Finally, Kate spoke:

"That's how you kiss me?" Kate questioned then pulled Devin closer and kissed him. Zim and Mary's friends stare at them bewildered they were kissing in front of everyone. They wondered why and what just happened to make Mary run to the railing and jump off it. Then finally, Tina took a guess.

"So, they were fighting?" Tina said.

"Not anymore, apparently." Dib said scratching his head.

"That's crazy!" Penny spat out. "Mary's brave! If I tried to jump off the stadium railing, I would have been so scared! I couldn't do it!"

"You don't need to." Brian assured her touching her arm.

"Hey, let's go congratulate our alien creep champ!" Josh shouted.

"What?" Leena questioned.

"Nothing, nothing." Josh took it back forgetting two girls don't know Zim's true identity.

"It's a joke, he means Zim." Dib corrected Josh then thought to himself. 'Idiot.'

"Oh, okay." Penny easily overlooked while Leena thought it was still very strange to call Zim. They pile out of the stadium with the rest of their peers and enter to the field. They looked around to see the track team stand around the tall trophy they won but no Zim or Mary to be found. Dib spotted one of the track field kids he met before walk by and asked him.

"Hey, hi," Dib called his attention. "Do you know where Zim is?"

"No," Andy said then glanced left to right. "I don't know where he is."

"Where's Zim?!" Devin shouted walking aside Kate.

"I don't know." Andy repeated himself. Daemyn overheard the conversation.

"I saw him leave with the girl." Daemyn told his captain.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Devin screech to Daemyn.

"Was I supposed to?" Daemyn asked clueless.

"Yeah, we were all taking our picture together for the yearbook." Devin enlightened Daemyn with this news.

"Ohhh…" Daemyn groaned speechless.

"Somebody call him or something to get him here!" Devin could only think as a solution but Kate elbowed Devin.

"It's not that important if he's in the photo or not." Kate replied but Devin thought otherwise.

"Yes, it is! He's part of the victory!" Devin proclaimed and then Kate calmly stated.

"If Zim wants to miss the photo to be with his girlfriend, it's fine. I think the yearbook staff got pictures of Zim running through the finish line. Besides, we can mention him absent from the photo."

"Oh, alright." Devin said then glances to Zim's friends. "Zim's off the hook for now, but next time I see him, I'm gonna brag so much we had a our picture taken for the yearbook with the trophy. He's going to be so jealous."

"Yeah, I'm sure he will." Dib said utterly being sarcastic then he turned to everyone. "Hey, where to hell is Zim? Where would they go?"

"I have no clue." Tina admitted while shrugging her shoulders. Though Dib was gratified Zim was able to resolve issues with Mary, on the other hand, he did find it annoying they ran off without telling them. He wondered what the rush was. Dib gave up reasoning the explanation and talked to his friends asking what they should do now. Leena suggest pizza and everyone agreed. They were about to leave the field until Devin threw a backpack at Dib. He collapsed to the ground after being hit with the extra weight.

"It's Zim's! You take it before someone steals it!"

Under the backpack Devin threw at the back of his head, Dib groaned.

"Damn it, Zim…I'm not your freakin' pack mule!"


	41. Tonight, my dear

It's a Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 41: Tonight, my dear.

A stream of excitement rush to Mary's head as Zim grabbed her hand and they raced to the bus stop. No one seems was out here or in process of catching the bus. They were either in skool or driving cars but now they were alone and very much influenced by their affections. When they arrived, Mary held both her hands in Zim's cheeks and kissed him. She was thrilled he accepted her apology and when he said she was the one who encourage him to win the race, she grew happier. Zim brushed her hair away from her face and whispered.

"Mary, you are so strong to love someone like me." Zim told her but she inch close to whisper.

"I'm lucky to love someone like you." Mary said. "You are strong and brave. I don't want to feel weak when you're away."

"You don't need to feel weak; you have a lot of strength. You may not realize it but I do. I know this in you and when I saw you cry and couldn't help you, I regretted it. Mary, you are strong and don't be afraid of loneliness because our friends and everyone will be there for you. Your father will be here when I'm away and don't worry for me because I will be back. I need to go so you and I won't be put through this over again. I promise I will come back to you. I won't let them defeat me." Zim whispered his guarantee. Mary leaned forward and he touched her lips to kiss her.

"Let's go to my house." Zim suggested. "It will be more private."

"What about Gir and Minimoose?" Mary wondered.

"I can get them out of the house, easy." Zim assured her. The bus stopped for the couple and to Zim's surprise, he forgot something very important. His backpack, which had his wallet and clothes. He was still dressed in his track uniform but No bus pass to his name. Mary paid for his fare and they sat down not fazed Zim should go back and get his stuff. Zim had Mary on his mind. Zim placed his hand on her knee and rubbed it. Mary blushed he touched her then he kissed her. Zim reached a point of intimacy he hasn't felt for a long time. Mary had to convince Zim to stop and wait until they reached his house. Zim withdrew his advances momentarily until they got off the bus. By then, he settles holding her hand. They made through the neighborhood to Zim's house. Zim led Mary through the path of garden gnomes to his door. He stopped to stare at the beauty he brought home. Mary's light pale skin glow in glory reflecting the sun. Her pale cheeks bloom red when she notices how long Zim was staring. Zim placed his hand on her cheek brushing a small red-orange curl. Mary, in response, placed her hand on which Zim held her and leaned closer. Zim pressed a kiss on her right cheek and nudged Mary to him holding her around her hips. Mary stood on her toes and kissed him. Zim leaned back during their scene and found the door. Mary followed willingly tip toeing in his direction. Zim clutch door knob and turned it to enter the house. Full witness, Gir and Minimoose sat in the living room watching Zim and Mary enter the house occupy in their emotions. Gir and Minimoose were playing with Slippers in the living room but upon them entering the house lips on lips action provided unusual entertainment. Zim stopped to see Gir and the others and pulled away from Mary. Mary stopped herself too slightly more embarrassed than Zim.

"You guys love each other so much!" Gir squealed. "It's adorable!"

"Yes, adorable." Zim verified the response.

"Look what we are doing!" Gir expressed holding Slippers in his nubby robotic hands.

"Hi, Gir, hi Slippers." Mary greeted and scratched the rabbit's head Gir presented. Minimoose squeaked wanting to say hello. "Hello, Minimoose."

"Let's go to the circus!" Gir peeped out a suggestion.

"The circus?"

"Yeah, the circus. They have monkeys, lions, tigers and squirrels, lots and lots of squirrels and cotton candy! All you can eat!" Gir explained the excitement pinned in him since he saw the commercial.

"When is it?" Zim asked.

"Tonight!" Gir said. "Can we go? Can we go?"

"Ummm…Sure." Zim agreed. Gir screamed in joy and put Slippers in Mary's arms and ran out the door. Minimoose zoomed pass Zim and Mary's heads and left chasing Gir. "Okay…Told you it will be easy, too easy." Zim expressed. Mary smiled and walked into the kitchen where Gir and Minimoose put Slippers' cage. Zim wrapped his arms around Mary's waist and whispered behind her ear. "We're alone now."

"Not exactly, Slippers in here." Mary whispered.

"You want to go to my room? I promise it's not a mess. Perhaps I could teach you some new Irken words." Zim whispered and kisses her neck.

"Like what?" Mary questions. Zim smacked his lips to make a foreign sound.

"My beautiful soul mate." Zim whispered his translation. Mary blushed and nodded. They walked up the stairs to Zim's room. Mary saw Zim remained true to his words, it was clean. The sheets in his bed were tucked and the floor was clear of junk.

"What happen to your inventions?" Mary wondered.

"I have them down in my lab." Zim said, closes the door and sat on his bed. He smiled. "You haven't been here for awhile."

"Yeah," Mary admitted putting her book bag next to Zim's bed. She sat next to him. Zim placed his hand on hers and kept the smile on his face then begun the process of taking off wig and contacts. His antennas bounce up and his bug eyes shine in the sunlight. Mary blushed. "I forgot how beautiful your eyes are."

"I could never forget how beautiful you are." Zim said then pressed his lips onto hers. She laid her hands on Zim's chest while he held her head. Zim brushed his fingers through Mary's hair while they licked the inside of their mouths. Zim's tongue slid under over Mary's. Zim's hands fell from her head and gently slide to her shoulders then to her torso. Zim lightly cupped her breast while resting his left hand on her hip. Mary didn't mind his curiosity she continued expressing hers licking the inside of Zim's mouth. His hand grew warm from the heat it was emitting. While kissing, Zim rubbed the seam of her shirt and touch the top button of her yellow blouse. Mary felt Zim playing with her top button and finally unlatched the first button. Mary paused and pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Zim whispered. "Did I go too far?" Mary looked up to Zim, not angry but concern.

"Are we going too fast?" Mary asked him.

"No, do you think we are?"

"No," Mary said and smiled. "I don't think so either."

"Then let's move along to more our speed." Zim said and dragged his finger along the chain of her necklace to her second button. Zim felt her chest rise up and down to each deep breath she took. He saw her cheeks turn red and bright enhancing the features of her puffy, soft lips. Zim kissed them and released the second plastic button of her top. Her thick middle piece of her bra, her blouse revealed the curves of her breasts but Zim wasn't satisfied with this. He picked and unbuttons three more in a quick frenzy. Zim rubbed his knuckles upon her bare waist, it withdrawn to the touch. Mary hunched near Zim. Her cheeks touching his as he hugged her belly under her shirt. Zim caressed his fingers into her skin. He rubbed up against her breast and felt the smooth lace of her cotton bra. Mary tucked her fingers under Zim's uniform white Cesspool View T-shirt and rubbed his strong belly, could be abs, she couldn't tell if they're muscles. Zim knew she was curious too so he took off his shirt pulling it over his head. Mary was swoon to discover the intensity of his workout. His pecs were noticeable and abs is flat but hard to the touch. Zim tossed his shirt on the floor. Zim put his hand on her shoulder and pulled down one side of her shirt. Mary responded to tugging the other and letting it drop to her sides. Mary leaned forward desiring to be held by Zim and rubbed her cheek on his left breast.

"My gosh, you feel so firm and soft at the same time." Mary sighed. Mary, gentle to the touch, kissed Zim's chest. Mary pressed her lips upon Zim's chest numerously. Zim felt great he decided to work out and better gain his lover's affection. Zim rubbed her back and gripped her bra strap as she kissed his chest. He leaned forward once she allowed it then Zim kissed along the trail where her locket dangled between her breasts. Zim kisses her chest and hugged dearly in the process of his embrace. Mary rubbed his hips and whispered in his antenna.

"You can unhook my bra."

Zim paused in a moment of hesitation. He stopped and wonder whether he was prepared to see her boobs. Mary looked him in the eyes to show she was comfortable exposing her breasts, her outer self to him. Zim stuck his fingers under her bra strap and clip off two hooks. He brushed off the white straps from her shoulders holding the cups of her bra in his hands. He peered upon her chest. Mary's slender figure compliments the size of her breasts. They were pond lilies stain with a small mole on her upper right breast. Mary's nipples were bitty flesh pink. They erect, darken it's color, exposed to chill of the room which bewildered him more of her delicacy. Zim dropped her bra on his lap and grabbed upon her breasts. He didn't know why he did and didn't care. It felt natural. Zim held her breasts and felt her nipples poke in his palms. He pressed his lips on to Mary's as held her. Mary wrapped her arms around his waist and passionately kissed him. Zim released his grip and embrace Mary close to each others' chest. After kissing her lips, Zim bow down to kiss her belly then moved up kissing her abdomen, lower right breast, touch her nipple lightly then kissed her mole and to her shoulder. Zim nuzzled her neck as his final destination. She was thrilled, excitement and anxious all at once they expressed the bent repression of their love. Zim stroked her long curly hair and let out a long time confession.

"Mary, I want to lose myself in you. I know it sounds silly but of all what have happened, I wish I could find a way to make it disappear where you and I could do what we want and have the summer we promised each other. I wish there was a way I could give it to you."

Mary heard his words thoughtfully then nodded. She picked up his head and kissed him.

"There is a way." Mary said. She stood up from his bed and turn around to Zim. The orange sunset glow glimmer outside his window above his bed upon Mary. Her skin glowed orange and the heart of her locket reflected gold as though it was the key to her soul. Mary kicked off her shoes and unzipped the back of her pink skirt and let it slide from her hips. She slipped the bikini white underwear from her hips in the same fashion revealing the V-shape fine hair surface of the female organ. Zim was shocked to see her bare self. He wondered how it came to this. They started making out, moments later she's naked ready to give it all. He was obvious to most things but the signal was too strong to ignore from Mary. She wanted sex, heck she accepted it. Mary gazed upon Zim with openness. Zim was speechless to express his embarrassment, his concern however the given situation. At that moment, he felt not worthy to provide the intimacy she desired. He had to come clean to his limitation.

"Mary, I love you but…" Zim said then looked down at his junk. "I don't have well, a normal human penis. It's very different."

Mary blankly stared at him. Her expression was noted and it scared him.

"I'm sorry I can't- You can hate me now. It's alright by me."

Zim expected Mary to pick up her clothes and leave when she reached for her bra beside him but instead she pushed it off the bed and sat next to him. It surprised him, but not as much as what she said.

"Show me. You can show me if you like. I just want to see how different. I promise I won't hate you." Mary pressed her hand on his knee.

"Oh-Okay." Zim slowly pulled down his grey track shorts. He tugged them from his hips then came off his boxers. Zim nervously awaited a scream or something but he didn't hear a peep. Mary stares down at it. It was discolored, a deep purplish brown color contrast his light green pale skin. A long and puffy muscle. Mary noticed one difference compared to the male organ. No scrotum (he got no balls). The erection he had earlier grew weak and limpy. Zim bashfully smiled.

"Sorry, I have been doing this since…Now, I stopped." Zim explained the impulse. Mary touched Zim cheek and rubbed him dearly. Zim got lost in her light brown eyes as she pressed her breasts upon his chest. She whispered in his antenna.

"Make love to me. Let our worlds collide."

They stare deeply in each other's eyes knowing it was what they both desired. Zim latched onto Mary wrapping his arm upon her back and dipped her head on his pillow. Instinct ravage through him. His knees bend and he upon her kissing tongues like the last time before it all changed. The feelings he had for her emotionally strong. The touch of her skin built the sensation. He may lose it then suddenly remembers the rules of ABC, more importantly C. He bolted off her then calmed Mary before she was alarmed.

"I need a condom." Zim stated. "I have one." Zim sat up and tugged off his shorts and boxer that restrained his calves. Mary nodded but then questions.

"Why do you happen to have a condom?"

"Josh gave me one as a joke prom night." Zim said being bluntly honest.

"Oh," Mary said then sat up. "They had sex already?"

Zim searched through his closet and found his pants hung with the suit. Mary took this as an opportunity to take off her socks. Zim rummage in the pocket and found the clear colored latex package condom. He sat on the bed and removed the wrapper. He rolled it on his penis praying in his head. 'Please fit, please fit, please fit, please fit,' it glided on and stuck in place. It was his size, lucky dog. Feeling assured they were protected; Zim hugged and kissed her pushing Mary onto his bed. Zim spied the locket lay on her chest and found the clasp between her shoulders and neck. Mary looked up to him as he released the clasp and pulled it off her, the locket in his hand. He put it on the table beside her.

"You'll be safe with me tonight."

"Be gentle." Mary utter from her lips. Her face was flushed and eyes glimmering. Zim pressed her lips then sat up. He glided his hands from her waist to her hips. Her thighs already open to him. Zim moved into position winging it like any awkward first timer. He tried to go in by her clitoris. Mary whined, "A little lower…" Zim tried again. Penetration was more difficult than he thought but it did not discourage him. He kept at it until he hit the spot. A flash a pleasure hit his brain when becoming one with her causing him to groan. Instincts older than him told him what do. He humps into the vagina rubbing her on the inside. Mary gasped feeling a sight pain. It slowly faded away replaced with pleasure of Zim's motions. Mary felt it overwhelm and fluster her. She reached out and utterly his name weakly. Zim leaned forward feeling her hands cling to his shoulders. Zim held himself up over her chest on his bed as he continues to thrust. Zim watched her cheeks glow. Her body was so warm and alive. It excited him. The fear of causing infliction was gone so he got caught in the moment watching her eyes and reactions upon her face. Mary spied up at Zim and saw him so powerful than she has ever seen him. She saw him as strong, a leader confident in his moments and squarely focused on her staring down at her. She lost herself in his eyes yet felt safe and assured. Mary let out a soft moan, her hips move like she never felt. Her body constricted and she gasped a sigh. She felt the inside of her vagina mimic the physical movement of Zim's thrusting upward. Zim felt the shift and didn't deny it. He embraced it hearing her little moans. It turned him on and he continues to bury into her watching her eyes roll and her chest rise up and down hearing her off tune groans. After awhile, the urge disappeared from her body and Zim grew tired too. He wiped the sweat from his forehead keeping his eyes on his flustered lover.

"I love you," she said. Zim bent lower to whisper. "I love you too, more than anything. You are the beauty in my life."

He saw he truly touched her and saw a tear gleam in her eye. He wiped it away from the lash. He slowly, gentle as he be, pulled out of Mary. It was easier since Mary provided the lubrication. Zim knelt over and away from Mary giving her room to sit up. To his shock, Zim spied something new and unfamiliar on his sheets below her. Red spots form in a cluster on his bed. He stared mortified at it then to Mary.

"What the- Did I hurt you? Did I really? You're bleeding or am I?" Zim stuttered each question. Mary raised his worries revealing an embarrass smirk.

"It's me, must be my hymen. It usually tears the first time." Mary told him.

"Are you okay?" Zim fidget a response still spooked from the blood.

"I'm fine." Mary assured. Zim took her word for it and eased his worries.

"So tonight we succeeded in ultimate sexual intimacy?"

"I guess so." Mary said then sat up. "Ummm…Sorry about your sheets."

Zim smeared the silly grin off his face when Mary expressed her apology.

"Uh, what?" Zim snapped back to focus. "Oh, no problem. I get some new sheets." Zim glances at digital clock on the dresser. It was nine-thirty. "It's sort of late. We should get dress and I'll walk you home before your Dad gets mad at me, again."

"My Dad is out of town on a business trip. He won't be home until tomorrow afternoon." Mary explained her present home life then stood up and low to the floor to pick up her underwear. Zim touched her arm and pleasantly asked.

"Then why don't you spend the night here?"

Mary blushed and smiles bashful he asked.

"Okay, I love to." Mary agreed then said. "I need to go use the bathroom quick."

"Be my guest, well more than that." Zim said trying to be clever in his speaking and it worked making Mary giggle. Mary reached into her book bag and grabbed a package pad she would use to absorb the blood. Not associated with menstruation this time. She picked up her shirt wondering if it would be a good pajama top. Zim offered an easier solution. He opened his third dresser drawer and threw her one of his clean shirts.

"Here, you can borrow mine tonight so you don't have to sleep in your clothes."

"Thanks." Mary accepted gratefully then slipped it over her head and wore the giant T-shirt covering over her hips. She walked out of Zim's room to recover from intercourse. Zim needed time to recover also. He realized he still had the condom on. Totally forgot it was there so he unrolled it off. He spied at the latex rubber condom, notice it was intact and high school sex education didn't lie. Condoms can be effective if applied properly. Zim disposed of the condom in his room's garbage bin then tied the bag so no robots were curious to go through his trash. It happened more than once. Zim put on his boxers and clears the sheets off his bed. He walked by the bathroom then knocked on it for safe measures.

"Mary, you alright? You've been in there for awhile."

"Yeah, Zim. I'm fine." Mary responded an annoyed groan. Zim shrugged his shoulders, went to the laundry room next door and put the sheets in the washer. He then came out and went to the closet to fetch the other white sheets. He went to his bed and lay down the new clean sheets then snuggles under a beige patterned blanket waiting for Mary to return. Eventually, she came out of the bathroom to Zim's room. Zim's arms were stretched out on the headboard shirtless. The blanket covering the lower half of his body in the well lit room. He called over to Mary.

"You're wearing my favorite shirt." Zim smiled.

"I am?" Mary questioned not recalling Zim wearing the long black T-shirt.

"It's my favorite now since you'll be sleeping in it with me."

Mary was a tad embarrassed to respond to him.

"Why don't you hit the lights and come here. The bed is warm and cozy." Zim offered in temptation. Mary shut off the lights then walks to Zim's bed. Mary glanced up and down him.

"And you're wearing…"

"Boxers, if that's fine."

"Yes, it's fine." Mary said then smiled awkward. Zim opened up his covers and wrapped it around her when she sat on his bed. She crawled up beside him to his right then settle down resting her head on his chest. Zim wrapped his arm around her waist and rested it upon her belly. Her head was tilted below Zim's face but it didn't stop her to have a conversation.

"Zim," she uttered.

"Yes, Mary?"

"How long can I stay tomorrow?"

"You can stay as long as you like. You don't want to go home?"

"I don't know. I'm different now."

"You're the same to me."

"I don't want to leave until later."

"Okay, it's not like I was going to force you out of my house." Zim said. "Are you uncomfortable we did this too soon?"

"No, I just feel…"

"Awkward?"

"Sore, very sore." Mary chuckled.

"Oh, if it makes you feel any better, I'm a little sore too."

"How long will we keep this a secret this time?"

"Don't know. If Dib finds out somehow and gets pissed at me, the secret will come out in the matter of hours unless I threaten to beat him up." -Mary giggles- "Yes, I've been paying attention."

"Would it be so bad if they knew?"

"Yes, they would keep asking us stupid questions like, 'How did you guys do it? That can't be true! Zim and you are different!'"

"Xenophilia became possible." Mary stated.

"Don't tell the internet." Zim warned her. Mary chuckled snuggling in his chest. She exhaled her last laugh and sighed. Zim stare up to the ceiling feeling Mary's warmth and the weight of her head each time he breaths. The room became silent so quickly. "Mary, do you have any plans?"

"Plans for what?"

"The future. What you want to do? What you want to be? Anything?"

"I want to be a teacher." Mary confessed a dream of hers.

"That makes sense. You are a great tutor. You were able to teach me! ME!"

"You're not so bad." Mary said patting his belly.

"Yeah, I was. I had no ambition or goals for the future. I guess I was at the point of not caring whether I graduated or not but still went to school because, you know, Dib. He would get mad at me and stuff."

"Always stuff."

"I never thought I could have a future when I was banished then somehow I manage to believe I could until they called and wanted my butt back to complete one more mission; a dangerous mission to risk everyone's future. I need to return and seek closure before it could be taken. I guess the best time of my life was hanging out with my friends and you, acting normal and being apart of something."

Mary stood up suddenly over Zim.

"And there will be a lot more to come once you get back."

"Things will be different when I return. I may come back an Invader and have helped conquer a world or a traitor who couldn't."

"I don't care how you do it. I trust you'll make the right judgment. Just come back home." Mary said then pressed her lips on Zim's suddenly showing how much she cared for him. Zim embraced her and the kiss. Zim leaned back to lay her on his chest while kissing. Mary felt at ease for the longest time and when she opened her eyes, he saw the strength in his and did not dare question it anymore. She rest her head next to him on a pillow and sighed a good night in three magical words. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mary." Zim said and kissed her forehead. Zim snuggled and put more of a covering on Mary. Eventually, with no other sounds except for Mary breathing. Zim closed his eyes and fell to sleep at peace.

Hours later, Zim woke from a loud bang. His antennas prick up as he awoke. Zim glance around the room then to his lover silently sleeping on his right. In fact, she was asleep on his right arm. He felt his arm was numb but had to move to investigate the sound. Zim nudge gently to free his arm from under her. It didn't disturb her and she slept on her stomach. Zim groaned while putting up his pants and went downstairs. Gir and Minimoose were pretending to be the circus. Gir hollered like a monkey and it didn't surprise Zim. Minimoose was banging trash can symbols. Zim growled at the two.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Being a monkey." Gir stated. "We had soooo much fun at the circus we want to be a circus."

"No one's being a circus, not this late." Zim harshly whispered. "I suggest, no, I command you go to bed. That's an order!"

"Okay…" Gir agreed without argue. He and Minimoose were both tired. Zim turned around successful in this small victory and walked upstairs. When Zim reached the top step, he heard a scamper of feet follow. He turned around to see Gir and Minimoose standing behind him. Zim snapped a whisper.

"What are you doing?"

"Going to bed." Gir stated. Zim then remembered they all shared a room, his dresser or bed, to sleep in. Zim sighed and asked.

"Can you guys sleep on the couch tonight, please?"

"Why?"

"Because, I…Uh…Mary is sleeping over in my bed."

"Ohhh…" Gir squealed. "I'm gonna tell her about the cir-"

Zim picked up the manic robot by the head before it ran off.

"You can't now. She's sleeping." Zim said.

"Oh, right, heh, heh." Gir giggled. Minimoose squealed. They stared at Zim not taken in by his bargaining of sleeping on the couch. "Okay, you guys can sleep in my room but no sounds. You have to be quiet. Understood?"

They nodded and crept in Zim's room. Gir and Minimoose spotted Mary sleeping under the covers unknowing of their presence. Gir stare and smiled at Mary sleeping nuzzling her face in Zim's pillow.

"Awww…" Gir groaned. "She looks so cute."

"Yes…" Zim sighed to his sleeping beauty. "Yes, she does." He broke from her spell and told Gir and Minimoose to get to bed. Gir opened the middle drawer dresser and laid in it like a cradled baby. Minimoose shut his eyes and fell a slumber in the air unaware if he's sleeping upright or even cares. Zim sneaks under the covers and by his lover's side. He made even with Mary sharing part of her pillow. He kissed her forehead and tucked closer to fall asleep.

When he woke, Mary was the first he seen sleeping by his side. She had her head rest above his right shoulder. Mary embraced his arm and made light murmur sounds while she snoozes. Zim brushed away the fluffy locks blocking her face and smiled. He glances quickly at the time. It was a quarter after nine, early but not so much. He notice Gir and Minimoose were missing from his bedroom then follow erratic noises coming downstairs. Zim had to be there but couldn't tear himself to leave Mary. He figures he should stay longer if Mary wakes. Zim watch her slumber and clutch on him like a stuffed animal toy. Didn't seem like she was eager to awaken so he had to. Zim nudge her head with his and whispered in her ear.

"Mary, Mary." Zim tries to call for her attention. Mary grumbles and slowly opened her eyes. She awoke to Zim looking her in the eyes. "Good morning," Zim warmly greeted. Mary yawned and echoed a greeting too. "It's time to get up."

"Really, what time is it?" Mary wondered and looked up over his head at the clock. Mary nuzzled into Zim's chest and said. "We can sleep in a little longer."

"I would love too but-" His sentence cut short due to Gir's early morning screeching. Zim sat up and heard something crash downstairs. Zim looked down to see Mary still lying in bed. She looked up to him.

"Those guys are up? A little too early for destruction."

"Yeah, but it's how they are." Zim stated having to deal with their madness on a daily basis.

"I understand." Mary said and sat up in bed then hugged Zim. "They sound distracted. How about a quick cuddle before you lay down the law." She kissed his lips. Zim touched her cheek and held her as they kissed. They share small brief kisses repeating each sentiment. Zim heard a loud bang it made his antennas perk up. He pulled away from Mary.

"Cuddle time over."

Zim bounced out of bed and rushed downstairs to see the commotion. Someone knocked over the bookcase.

"What are you doing?"Zim screeched the question. Gir quickly glance to Zim.

"Minimoose started it! He is bad!" Gir pointed the finger to Minimoose. Minimoose let out a protesting squeak. "You are a bad moosie."

"That's enough!" Zim got in the middle. "I don't care who started it just knock it off, okay?" They nodded. "Good," Zim said and found the remote. He turned on the T.V. "It's Saturday morning. Go watch some cartoons."

They both tuned in to the set and smiled happy.

"Cartoons!" Gir peeped and sat on the floor. Zim sighed and went back upstairs. He will deal with cleaning the living room later. He entered his room and joined Mary in bed.

"Sorry, had to stop the madness before it was out of control." Zim stated but Mary presented an odd expression. He stared at her. Zim examined she looked really disturbed. "What?" Mary touched his shoulder and pressed it forward. There was no denying it; Mary saw the old faded scars. It stretched on his back wilder in design from the two studded connection used to bear his Pak. The scars were dark green thick to thin lines and puffed up an extra layer of skin. Mary wondered why she didn't spot them before then recalled it was dark when they began their pleasure. Zim became worried she was disgusted being so silent, turned away trying to hide it yet Mary rustled from his side and behind him to see the full infliction. Mary hugged him placing her cheek on his left shoulder blade wrapping around his belly.

"These are from when they-"

"Yes, when they tortured me."

"Those monsters. They shouldn't be allowed to rule a civilization."

"It doesn't hurt anymore. These scars."

"But how many new will they create?" Mary asked a rhetorical bleak question. Zim coughed trying to break the tension and cleared his throat.

"It will be best not to think about it." Zim said. Mary released her grip and sat by his side. She bent low and picked up her shirt not protesting his passive nature. She knew he did not have the answer. Zim proposed an idea to get off topic. "Hey, let's have breakfast."

"Okay, but do you mind if I shower first?"

"Not at all." Zim encourage. "I do have soap."

"That's a relief." Mary chuckled.

"You go ahead and take a shower. I'll make breakfast." Zim offered as a simple plan.

"Oh, okay," Mary said and turned away picking up her skirt. Zim heard her hesitant in the agreement.

"What? You don't want me making breakfast?"

"No, I do. I-Well, never had anyone make me breakfast, not in awhile. Only when I was little." Mary admitted.

"If you lived with me, I'll make you breakfast every morning." Zim promised. Mary met his smile and blushed. She then picked up her bra. "So what you want?"

"Anything, really, I'm not picky."

"Eggs? Pancakes? Toast? Waffles?"

"Waffles sound good."

"You're in luck. I happen to be an expert waffle maker."

"Have at it master chef." Mary said and walked out of his room. He heard her open the bathroom door and shut it. Zim would like so much to join her but water! He had to stay away, besides he had a new duty. Zim put on an undershirt. He thought it was casual for Saturday morning lounging. He slept in his pants and didn't care. He was dressed and walked downstairs to begin breakfast. He lifted the bookcase and stuck it up to the wall. He stacked the movies and books disarranged in the case. He went into the kitchen, found the box of waffle batter in the cabinet, turn on the irons and mixed all his ingredients in a bowl. Gir and Minimoose stared stunned seeing Zim actually make breakfast. It was usually their job.

"Anything we can do?" Gir asked from the living room.

"No, you stay put. I got this." Zim casually declined their help. Gir and Minimoose didn't think much of it and continue watching cartoons. Zim sprayed canola oil on the two irons, scooped two blobs of batter on them and shut to press. Minutes later, he continues the process until he ran low on batter but at that time he made enough waffles for four. He turned around to set the table but found Slippers there sitting in his cage. Now how did Zim forget about the little bunny? I could not tell but he put down the platter of waffles, picked up the cage and moved him in the living room. He sat him beside Gir.

"You can help me by feeding Slippers." Zim suggested to Gir.

"Okay!" Gir didn't refuse, got up and found the pellets. He opened the cage and put a little in his dish. Zim set up four places at the table. Only three chairs since they broke his fourth. Minimoose can float eating anyhow. He places the waffle platter in the center. The syrup and butter were placed beside it, then Zim fetched a gallon of orange juice from the fridge. Zim turned around and notice Mary standing in the entrance of the kitchen. She smiled. She was fully dressed ready for the day.

"Wow, looks delicious."

"Did you expect any less?" Zim tautly boasted.

"Nope, not from you." Mary said and took a seat at the table. Zim sat beside her. He noticed her hair was damp despite the towel drying she tried so Zim was cautious. Gir and Minimoose ran into the kitchen and saw breakfast on the table. Gir jumped on the chair while Minimoose floated in the empty spot at the table. Gir had his first pick of the waffles and took three from the pile. Minimoose hovered one to his face and took a bite. Mary planted a big kiss on Zim's cheek. "Thank you for breakfast." Mary expressed. Zim blush his expression and smiled.

"You're welcome. Go ahead, dig in." Zim said and pulled the platter towards them. Mary and Zim picked a few and separately put them on their plates. Gir grabbed the syrup and smothered his waffles in the sticky sugar goo. Zim took it away when he saw he put on too much. Gir whined he need more sugar but Zim sternly discipline him. Gir relinquish the bottle and Zim pour some on his and gave Mary the bottle.

"It's nice to have Mary over for breakfast." Gir stated. Both Mary and Zim looked at him. "Mary, you should sleep over more often."

"Uhhh, hmmmm…" Mary uttered not knowing what to say. Zim offered a response.

"Not all the time." Zim said. "Then it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Surprise sleepover!" Gir shouted utterly clueless. Minimoose sigh a squeak and bit his waffle. "Can I share the bed next time Mary comes over?"

Mary glances over to Zim and he caught her glance. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe," Mary said. Gir accepted the maybe and ate his waffles. He slurped up the pastry squares; sloppy with the syrup Zim scolded him.

"Gah, Gir, try to be neater. Table manners!"

"What's that?" Gir squealed. Zim groaned knowing there will be no point of explaining. He forgot what manners were, again. Despite the mess, they enjoy their meal until someone banged at the front door. Zim stared at the door, then stood up.

"Hello?" Zim called out wondering who would knock this early at ten. To the instant Zim said a word, the door swung open revealing Dib who was knocking. Dib leered to Zim. Zim cause of surprise was limited to why he was here. Zim spotted his backpack upon Dib's shoulders. "Dib, what are you doing here?" Zim startled a question.

"My question is where did you go yesterday?" Dib shrieked angry and could be frustrated at Zim.

"Uhhh…" Zim groaned out of his mouth. He didn't know how to explain what he and Mary did after the game or whether saying it would calm his nerves or feel more embarrassed. Zim was not expecting his visit, period.

"That's all you got to say? 'Uhhh…', how about an explanation? You basically ran out of the skool without warning. I had to carry your stuff home and explain to Dad I had no clue where you were. I called you like fifteen times. What have you been doing?"

"Dib, you so tall!" Gir exclaimed.

"Yeah, I've been tall for awhile now." Dib blankly stated. Zim was grateful of Gir distracting Dib but he quickly went back on track. Mary felt it was her time to intervene.

"Hi, Dib," she said.

"Oh, hi Mary." Dib replied. He quickly directed his attention to Zim. "So Zim, are you going to explain yourself or what?"

"Uh, ummmm, I really don't know what to say what we have been doing, we kind of did a lot of things."

"What do you mean by 'we'? Wait, why is Mary here this early? Oh, I get it, we all think you skipped town but here you are having breakfast with Mary." Dib said then repeated with confusion, "Having breakfast with…Mary?"

Zim looked back at Mary.

"I think he finally figured us out."

"Okay, maybe he'll settle down." Mary said not alarmed and cut up half her waffle.

"Why did you think I skipped town?" Zim questioned Dib. Dib blankly stared at them seeing the clues around him. Mary wearing the same outfit as yesterdays, and fuzzy damp hair. Zim partially dressed.

"Am I crashing an after morning breakfast?"

"Yes,"

"So you guys had…sex?"

"Yes, we did."

"I'm crashing an after morning breakfast between Zim and Mary." Dib repeated more embarrassed by the situation than mortified.

"Well, while you're here, care to join us? I made waffles."

"No. No, no." Dib replied. "I think I'm going to go." Dib slowly stepped away to the front door.

"Can I have my backpack?" Zim asked him. Dib brush the straps off his shoulders and dropped it on the floor.

"Here you go." Dib said then grabbed the door handle.

"Dib, relax, it's not like you caught us in the act." Zim tried to calm his nerves.

"I know," Dib said then asked. "Are you coming over later to…practice flying?"

"It's a little early, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I mean for 'later' at night." Dib rephrased.

"Sure, I will 'later'." Zim said and motion the last word in air quotes. Dib said and glanced at Mary.

"Good bye."

"Bye, bye Dib." Gir screamed waving at Dib. Dib grin a strange smile and went out the door. Zim resumed sitting next to Mary.

"That was very awkward." Zim stated.

"For you or Dib?" Mary said.

"Mostly Dib." Zim said.

The commotion ended once Dib left. They ate breakfast and then after, Zim cleared the table. Mary helped by washing the dishes. All the waffles were eaten so there was nothing to refrigerate. Gir prance around the kitchen suggesting they make cupcakes but Zim scolded Gir telling him they already ate. It would be pointless to make cupcakes. Gir suddenly bursts into tears and screamed. Zim waited for Gir to quit his temper-tantrum and replied they don't have ingredients for cupcakes. He needed to go shopping and told him he will do it tomorrow. It wasn't good excuse, Gir squealed. Zim walked out of the kitchen and advise Mary to do the same. Zim, Mary and Minimoose sat in the living room waiting for Gir to stop crying. Moments later, Gir stepped out of the kitchen. Zim addressed Gir.

"Are you done?"

"Yes," Gir replied.

"Good, pick out a movie," Zim offered Gir. "It's your turn."

"Yay! Movie time!" Gir quickly cheered up. He ran to the bookshelf, climbed on it and grabbed the adventure he wanted to watch. It was Kung-Fu Madness. Gir slipped the disk into the DVD player and hit play. Gir sat on the floor next to Minimoose eyes glued on the T.V. while Zim and Mary had the couch all to themselves. Not to themselves really, Mary had Slippers on her lap petting the cute bunny. Zim placed his arm upon Mary's shoulders and hugged her. Mary kissed his cheek. They watched the movie silent except for the unsettling giggles from Gir. About halfway towards the end, Mary's phone began to ring. Mary took the phone out of her skirt pocket. She saw it was her father calling.

"It's my Dad." Mary said then stood up. Zim pressed pause on the remote stopping the movie. Gir and Minimoose complained but Zim told them to shut up. Mary walked out of the living room and to the kitchen. She answered the call while Zim listen carefully. "Hi, Dad,"

"Hello Mary, how are you?"

"Good." Mary replied.

"Okay, I just got off my flight. I'm going to catch a taxi. I should be home in a few hours." Prof. Weylin said in a rush. She can tell he was frantic.

"Oh, okay."

"The convention was brutal having to cover Prof. Membrane and explain our lab's achievements. He certainly picked a hell of a time to go on vacation." Prof. Weylin open to complain. "Well, I'll be home soon."

"Alright, see you later."

"See ya, sweetie." Prof. Weylin said and hung up. Mary closes her cell phone. She turns to Zim.

"I should go home." Mary said.

"I thought he said he be home in a few hours."

"I know but my Dad is always earlier than he says." Mary replied.

"Okay," Zim said then sat up. "Let's gather your stuff and I'll walk you to the bus stop."

Mary nodded and Zim gave Slippers to Gir. He played the movie and he and Mary left upstairs to get her bag and him to put on a shirt and shoes. Mary sat on his bed to put on her sock and shoes. Zim stood by his dresser, took out a clean shirt and changed. Zim spied the locket on his night stand and handed it to Mary. Mary gratefully replied she almost forgot it and hooked it around her neck. He saw she had the book bag over her shoulder.

"You ready?" Zim asks.

"Yes," Mary replied.

"Okay," Zim said and put on his shoes. He quickly put in his contacts and plopped the wig on his head. They arrive downstairs. Zim told his robots he be back in a little while. They said farewell to Mary. Zim and Mary exit the front door into his yard walking side by side eachother silent. Not a word to exchange. Zim contemplated the adventure, their sexual awakening and wish the time they spend together didn't end but it did. Their little fantasy of what they created has been shattered by reality. It was good while it lasted but never changes the fact he had to leave, he had to go, go and be his leaders' puppet for safety and security of his life and his friends and family. His lover, but she knew that and didn't oppose anymore. Mary walked beside him not stung by the insecurity she had to face days ago. Mary held her hand in his at ease. They approach the bus stop poles outside the neighborhood and cross the street to get on the right side. Seconds turn to minutes while waiting at the stop. Zim couldn't bear the silence so he began to ramble on words.

"So, um, well, I-" Zim stuttered. Mary looks up at him. Zim shut his mouth and rubbed his neck.

"I enjoyed the time we sent together." Mary struck up a conversation.

"Me too. I really liked it. I really like you." Zim admitted and turned away. He was embarrassed after he said that. He didn't need to say it, he thought, they did it so it was obvious. Mary giggled.

"I really like you too." She said cutesy then snuggle close to his chest. She looked up to chat with Zim. "It's too bad I have to go home but I'll see you Monday."

"Yes, I would come visit you tomorrow; maybe I should once I get done shopping."

"You can if you have time." Mary said. "Just text me if you're coming."

"Okay," Zim said then shown a goofy smile. Mary smiled the same expression and lean close to engage in a kiss. They smooched more than a couple times before the bus came rolling down the street. Mary and Zim kissed the final time when the bus pulled to the curb. Zim hugged her good bye and Mary wished him the best on his flight tonight. Mary boarded and he waved at her through the window. The bus left and Zim wondered walking across the street what to do next in his free time. He could hang out home or at Dib's house…With Dib…

"Yeah, maybe my home until it doesn't feel awkward." Zim stated out loud and just like that, Zim spent most of his day chillin' at home. He had some homework to complete and he thanked Dib secretly for bringing him his backpack. He sat in the kitchen and completed his Math, Science and English homework while Minimoose looked over his shoulder. Gir was occupied playing in the backyard with Slippers. Zim warned Gir to keep an eye on Slippers if he's outside. Gir kept his promise and return Slippers after thirty minutes of exploring. Many hours later, it turns dusk. Zim wondered if it was the best time to come by considering the hours that passed. He gave it a shot and stepped outside the door walking to Dib's house. He knocked on the door twice and immediately Dib greeted Zim. Dib glance to the ground then up at Zim again.

"Hi," Dib stated.

"Hi," Zim mimicked. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," Dib allowed and stepped back from the doorway. "We're in the middle of dinner," he informs Zim. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I ate before I came." Zim said. Knowing they may be in the kitchen dining, Zim sat in the armchair. "I'll wait until everyone's finished."

Dib stood for a moment before he left Zim in the living room to complete his meal. Zim waited patient and quiet. He didn't want to make a sound and disturb whatever discussion they could be having at the dinner table. One of many questions occupied his mind. Did Membrane know? Did Dib tell anyone he and Mary had relations last night? Would he keep it a secret? Zim glance to notice Membrane stepping out of the kitchen. He lifted his chin up to Membrane's presence.

"Good evening, Zim." Membrane addressed. "Would you care to join us for dinner?"

"No, thank you. I already ate."

"Oh," he looked down then searched for another suggestion. "Then how about desert? There's always room for desert. We have cherry pie."

Membrane tempted Zim with the treat and he succeeded getting Zim up off the chair.

"Sure, why not since you're offering." Zim said and enter into the kitchen. Zim glance at Gaz and Dib sitting at the table. Dib gazed a suspicious glare.

"I thought you said you weren't hungry." Dib stated.

"I changed my mind for pie." Zim said and sat down in the available seat next to him.

"Yeah, you sure did." Dib stated and scooped some mashed potatoes in his spoon. Zim wondered what Dib said was a snippy remark or enforcing a crude double entendre. Zim rolled his eyes and stared into empty space mostly at the cookie jar and recorded surveillance camera in the room waiting for desert.

"So, Zim," Membrane caught Zim's attention. "I heard from Dib you won first place in the 3000 meter race bringing your team victory."

"Yes," Zim responded. "It's wasn't difficult. Everyone worked hard. I was just filling in."

"Filling in? Unlikely, I heard you did an excellent job running seven laps and keeping pace. It was too bad I missed your race. I was in a video conference call with my partners asking my way to explain our projects. They act as though they haven't worked with me completely ignorant of our experiments. Son, when you run the lab, make sure you have confident assistants."

"Only the best will work in my lab, Dad." Dib promptly said.

"Good boy," Membrane praised his son. Gaz growled not interested in their little bonding buddy lab company. Gaz picked up her plate and placed it in the sink.

"I'll have desert later." Gaz said then glance at Zim. "Let's go."

"Hold up, I want to eat desert." Zim stated. Gaz stopped and stared at Zim.

"Believe me, if you don't want to taste your pie a second time, I would advise you wait after flying."

"Good point." Zim agreed and sat up from the table. Zim followed Gaz to the patio concrete deck. Gaz stopped the motion and turn to Zim.

"Get in." Gaz told him.

"By myself?" Zim questioned. "You think I'm capable?"

"You're capable enough. You have to learn to fly the ship yourself without the dependency of someone watching your back. You might as well get use to it to ensure your safety and understanding of the ship."

Zim nodded, did not dare to complain and knew she was right.

"I'll watch from here." Gaz said and handed Zim the key to the aircraft.

"Okay," Zim said. He passed by Gaz to the ship. He opened the latch and boarded. He attempted the start up procedure without fail and lifted up in the sky. He was a little slow at first but gain momentum picking up speed as he glided over his neighborhood and back. Upon landing, Zim hovered carefully into the backyard. Zim stepped out of the cockpit and ship onto the burn to black grass. After lifting and landing a few times the grass may never grow again leaving this permanent mark. Zim stepped to Gaz waiting for her approval.

"So, how did I do?" Zim asked. Gaz snickered to the question.

"You know, your ship looks like a sperm sqiggling in the sky."

Zim smiled not offended. He put his hand on his crotch and pulled the pants area down like a gangster.

"Oh yeah, I think I graced the sky tonight." He added to the perverted joke and walked by Gaz. He held on the key confident he can fly his own ship. Gaz snuffed at the joke and followed him inside.

"You flew well." Gaz said. "Not as good as me though."

"Only a matter of time." Zim said bouncing the key up and down from his hand. Gaz watched him toss the keychain and caught it midair.

"It's my turn now." Gaz expressed her reason.

"Oh, you want a turn?" Zim grinned and snatch the key out of her hand. She was little surprise he was quick.

"Yes, after hours of having to help build the ship from the inside out. I've been patient and accepting of having to bitterly train a moron like you everything of what you stupidly forgotten. It's my right to get a fair share of flying before you somehow destroy it. I swear if you stop me I will take you in your sleep and throw you in a boiling jacuzzi, pull the cover and hear you scream and melt and turn into lime kool-aid."

Zim look to Gaz unimpressed. "Are you done?" Gaz snarled and Zim tossed her the key chain. "Geez…Always with the threats." Zim said and left Gaz outside.

Zim walked into the kitchen then in the living room. He spied Dib coming down the stairs. He stopped on the third step. They stared at each other for a sudden moment. "Oh, are you done flying?"

"Yea, Gaz is having a try at it." Zim said and glance around. "What's going on?"

"Nothing, hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Uh, sure." Zim said. Dib stepped off the stairs and passed him.

"Follow me to the garage. I got something to show you."

Zim cock-eyed a peculiar stare at the strange boy and followed him to the back garage.

'What is he up to?' Zim thought. 'Something to show me? What if he's trying to get even with me for losing my virginity before he? There better not be a tied up girl in the basement. No, Dib not the kind to kidnap, what am I thinking, yes, he is. What if he gone back to his old ways and hunting aliens again? It could happen?' Dib put his hand on the door knob but Zim pulled Dib away by the shoulder.

"I don't want to know."

"Relax Zim, I'm not taking you to see a dead body."

"Okay, good. Carry on." Zim said. Dib shook his head and turn the knob. Dib switched on the lights and stepped into the garage. Zim followed cautious of anything unusual. Dib bent down in the rubble of junk tossing a few things out of a box. "Why are we down here? What's this all about?"

"It's about this." Dib said and tossed him a can. It was heavy and full Zim weigh the ounces when he caught it. He looked at the label. It was weiser-Budweiser. A can of cold beer. Zim stared puzzled then glance up at Dib.

"Is this beer?" Zim question.

"Yep," Dib pulled a can from the plastic ring and held the rings in his left hand.

"What? I'm confused. I thought you were against me drinking."

"I was against you drinking and ruining my chances."

"Chances at what?"

"Getting a car."

Zim paused his response and looked at his funny."You're going to have to elaborate. I don't see the connection."

"Dad promised me if I didn't drink before I turned twenty-one, he'll buy me a car. I knew I could withstand to keep the deal but you on the other hand; you would jump on the wagon regardless of what my father says. So I guilt tricked you and not risk the chance of my Dad finding out about your binging and me losing my car."

"So you made me give up drinking so you can get a car?"

"That's the jits of it but had to be done. I don't want to ride the bus anymore. It's filthy and sometimes weird people talk to me. You ever rode the bus when a hobo wets himself while he slept with pee piddling from his seat on the floor. I tell you something, it is not funny when you're there. It's really sad. I want the easy way for once. I don't want rely on the buses as my means of transportation. I don't want to get a summer job to buy a cheap used car and then learn to drive from a half-ass instructor."

Zim twitched his eye furious hearing his lame excuses. He threw the can in his chest hard.

"You selfish asshole!" Zim screamed at the top of his lungs. Dib lunged into the box while he fell. "You made me believe I was an alcoholic just so you get a free car! Fuck you, man! Was Membrane sending me to AA the truth or part of your fabricated lie?"

"That was partly true." Dib wheezed in pain.

"Partly true?" Zim said. "Here we go! Cough it up!"

"Dad was going to get you help but he never were to abandon you." Dib confessed. "I made that up to motivate you." Zim picked Dib up from the collar and brought him up to his knees. Zim glared down at Dib.

"I should kick the crap out of you but," Zim stopped and looked to the beer cans on the floor. "Why this? Why are you coming clean to me? Explain yourself, human!"

"Because I thought I should before you go. I wanted to admit my lies and make up for them. Have a beer with my best friend before he leaves in a week. Before we would be busy preparing and final exams. Since all the cards have been put on the table with you and Mary having sex."

"What does me and her have to do with your confession?" Zim questions his odd connection.

"Come on, don't tell me you guys didn't do it because you're leaving." Dib pronounced his motivation. Zim let loose his collar but stay firm in his glare.

"I did it because I love her. It had nothing to do with that." Zim released his grip setting Dib on the garage floor. Zim turned away aware and bare of his confession.

"Does it now?" Dib said and stood up. "Would you have made this daring move without the deadline drawing near? So you can feel something from her for the last time."

Zim promptly turn back at him. "It's not going to be the last time. I'm coming back alive!"

"We all like to believe that!" Dib stated. Zim turned around thinking Dib was being smart with him but he saw tears shimmer below his glasses. "I'm going to lose my best friend because of stupid bullshit!" Dib expressed bitter in his sob. Zim saw him cry before but not for the sake of him. "I'm sorry for everything, for what I did. I was angry for being ignored and ridiculed. I never meant to harm you. I just thought I was making the right decision being the protector of the planet. I wanted so much to believe what I did was noble but really it was cruel and I went along defeating you because I didn't want it to stop. I wanted us to continue fighting for the Earth forever because it made me feel I had purpose. Then when I found out you weren't an Invader, I still wanted to fight. I didn't believe it was over but then something happen in the universe in which we got along and became friends and I realize, all I wanted was your friendship."

Zim covered any emotion he felt during his deep rooted confession. Instead of getting all teary, he picked up two beers from the floor and handed one to Dib. Zim rose it up in salute.

"To our friendship." Zim toasted. Dib wiped away the tears using his sleeve and raises the can. They clank cans and both popped the seal. Zim took the first gulp while Dib sipped from his can. The taste was bitter but Zim soon adjusted to the flavor and drank more. Dib tipped the can over his mouth and began chugging it. It eases the pain a bit. The beer seems to calm Zim's anger or was it Dib who settle him. Either way, they were relaxing.

"You know, Dib. I was also to blame for your behavior too. I was destroying the planet with every stupid stunt I pulled. If you didn't point me out of class you would have never been involved in my plans but I guess exposing me was how you secretly wanted to be my friend."

"You're an alien! A nasty stupid alien wanting to enslave mankind, hey, let's be friends." Dib chuckled.

"And though I did like fighting and finding ways to torment you, I will agree it could have been my way of saying yes, I agree. You are a human, my enemy, the obstacle in achieving my evil plans and making me inconfident, of course I'll be friends with you." Dib laughed and forgot his troubles quickly. "Come on," Zim picked up the remaining four cans strapped together. "Let's get out of here before Membrane catches us."

* * *

It was a dreary summer night sitting on Zim's back porch. The air was cool and the sky was clear able to gaze at the stars. Upon the porch, Zim and Dib sat talking about whatever subject came to mind. Cans litter beside them. One still remained full and unopened and it was Zim's fair share of the beer. Zim was on his second can and the intoxication didn't affect him as much as Dib. Zim was relaxed and loosening up while Dib was completely out of it. He giggled at any chance he took Zim's snippy comments as a joke. Dib stood from the porch. Zim forgave Dib after a while. It was more of a reluctant forgiveness and figured he should considering the times he lied to Dib about stuff. Gir walked on the scene and saw the open can Zim put on the step.

"Ohhhh, soda!" Gir chirped and picks up the can. Zim tilt his head to notice.

"Gir, it's not soda." Zim calm to warn but Gir took a sip. Gir squealed happy then nose dive in the grass. He passed out. "Well, that was anticlimactic." Not shaken by the robot's sudden failure.

"Yeah!" Dib snickered and pointed to Gir. "He's totally passed out! Why-why are we doing this?" A curious question popped in Dib's brain. He glances to Zim.

"Because you bought beer. How did you get this anyways?" Zim asks.

"Bought it from a crazy hobo Russian."

"A crazy hobo Russian." Zim stated.

"Mhmmm."Dib nodded.

"Am I supposed to believe that?"

"Yes."

They uproar in laughter.

"You got me! I paid a Russian man to buy my beer or was he Romanian. Definitely, definitely a ghost."

"You are confusing reality and fiction again." Zim reminded him.

"Am I, Zim, am I?" Dib said then took another sip. "I really don't know."

"And that, my friend, is how I know you had too much."

"What? I had three cans. I be fine. I'll be fine." Dib corrected his speech and assumed. "What about you, huh?"

"What about me?"

"Sitting down like you're the king of your own porch."

"Well, it is my house."

"Shut up." Dib protested and squinted his eyes.

"Maybe you should sit down." Zim suggested.

"I feel like standing."

"Okay…"

"Maybe, maybe you should stand up!"

Zim ably to his command. He stretched out his arms though he was expecting something from Dib.

"I'm up. Now what?"

"Come over here." Zim stomped over to his direction. Dib pointed over the fence. "Look at that!" Zim spotted a billboard with a bunch of teenagers thumbs up in the air which state in big letters. 'Cool kids don't drink.'

"I guess we're losers then." Dib accepted at long last.

"No, you're the loser, Dib."

"What? How am I the loser?"

"Your drinking underage."

"So are you."

"No, I'm 166 years old Irk years. So I'm technically allowed to drink."

"Fuck Irk years, you're seventeen too."

"I'm more mature than you."

"More mature, you're the psycho I had to help adjust you to human living after they dumped your ass."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Yes, I am." Dib said. "I've been looking out for you all my childhood life, would it kill you to take turns and do the same?" Zim sighs.

"Okay, since I have your permission." Zim said then smacked the beer can out of his hand. Dib looked where he dropped the can and huffed at Zim.

"What was that for?"

"I think you had enough." Zim told him.

"Had enough? Had enough? I'm just getting started. I haven't even told you the best part."

"The best part of what?"

"I don't know! I have to think of it first, gosh!"

"And while you do," Zim cozy him to the plastic outside chair. "Take a seat right here."

Dib sat in the chair and crossed his arms. Dib frowns.

"I'm not a baby."

"You're lucky you're not."

"Whatever." Dib turned away. Dib sneaks a glimpse while Zim picked up sleepy Gir off the grass and cradle him in his arms. "Hey!" Dib called his attention. "What was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"You know, a vagina, was it gooey?"

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm curious, just curious. You know, Gretchen and I planned to go all the way but she had second thoughts telling me she didn't want to lose her virginity and didn't want to risk getting pregnant and like a sucker, I fell for it. Then I thought to myself, would it be so bad to lose your virginity to me or to be the father of your child? I guess I knew the answers to those questions."

"Yeah, sure," Zim listen to the hint of rejection. "but you're moving on. How's your date with Leena?"

"Oh, yeah, it was casual. We hung out and talked for a little while."

"Are you planning to tell anyone about our affair?"

"What and have you hog the glory of having sex before I did? Fat chance!"

"I can trust to keep this quiet?"

"I won't tell a soul." Dib promised. "I wouldn't hear the end of it if I did."

"I knew we wouldn't. That's why we want to keep it secret."

"Didn't you try to keep your relationship with her a secret? What happen to that?"

"You told everyone, remember?"

"Oh yeah,"

"Dib, you're shit-faced." Zim stated. "Maybe you should go home and sleep it off."

"But I'm not tired." Dib said then suddenly stood up. "You can't make me do anything."

"I'm suggesting you should. You're acting irrational. I want you to go home before you do something really stupid."

"Like what?"

"I don't know and I don't want to think about it."

"Here's an idea."

"Oh, no."

"Let's go to my house and fly the ship to Hawaii. Have a mini vacation."

"Uhhh…" Zim said then stepped inside. "How about we go inside?"

"Then to Hawaii?"

"Sure," Zim flatly agreed without meaning.

"Great," Dib walked by Zim staggering in his steps to get inside. Zim picked up the can of beer from the last concrete slab, opened it and poured it out. It was obvious Dib had too much to drink and didn't want to feed him more even if it was his beer. Learning from Dib and the idiot who punched Mary, it wasn't good for his senses anyways. Zim moved Gir's sleepy head up to his shoulder for more leverage, shut the door and went inside. When he entered the living room, he saw Dib leaning upon the door waiting. Zim place Gir softly on the couch and walk to Dib. "Are you ready?"

"We're not going to Hawaii, I'm taking you home."

"What, why?"

"It's late and I'm sure Membrane will notice your absence."

"Fine, spoiled sport!" Dib frowned and leered to Zim. "You don't need to guide me; I can go home by myself."

"I'm walking you home." Zim was stern to his decision.

"You banged a chick and now you feel you have to be the man and take me home. I'm not your date. I'm not a girl either."

"It has nothing do with undermining your mascualinity, I'm concern about your safety. You're out of your mind and somehow I'm not as affected as you this time. Apparently, I can handle drinking alcohol better than food, explain that to me."

"Fine, if that's it," Dib said. "You want to waste time walking and then tag along but I don't need your help."

Dib stagger to stand up, he turned around and had trouble turning the knob. He opened the door and took his first step. He tripped down the first step but caught himself from falling by running on his feet. Zim tried to aide Dib by helping him recover from the stumble but Dib pushed him away.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Dib said and continue walking without Zim's help. Zim walked side by side with Dib awaiting a slip or fall. Dib was able to keep his coordination. Zim assumed Dib was handling well until he stopped for a moment. Zim turned around.

"Are you alright?" Zim asked. Dib let out a little burp and held his stomach.

"Yeah," Dib staggered. "Yeah, I'm fine." Then Dib covered his mouth quickly and turned to his right, bent over and retched in the neighbors' yard. He threw up in the rose bushes. The sicky noises disgusted Zim to the point of screeching.

"Eeeeewwww! Grosssss!" Zim shouted without hesitation. He notices his cry was too loud, he saw a light turn on inside the house. Zim grabbed Dib's arm.

"Get out of here, let's go, move!" Zim dragged Dib and ran with the obedient Dib following behind. They stopped once they reached outside of Membrane's house. Dib huffed and coughed unknowing they ran really fast and knocked the breath out of him. Dib stood up once he recovered and look to Zim.

"Thanks," Dib said half grateful Zim was looking out for him.

"No problem. Please, go home and sleep." Zim begged Dib. He nodded, walked to the front door and opened the door. The lights were off except for what was on in Gaz's room. Zim assumed he can sneak in unannounced. He sighed. "The nightmare of idiotic Dib is finally over, I hope."

Zim quickly took his leave before anyone got suspicious of why he was wondering the streets at 3 A.M. early night.

* * *

Boy, never ever let Dib drink unsupervised. Just kidding. So, yes. There it is. A chapter. Though it been awhile since I posted, I really put a lot a work into it but things came up and I had to put it off. And I will admit, I was hesitant being my first time writing a sex scene and question whether it was appropriate or important to the plot if I done this. It was and so worth writing to challenge my skills. It may not be the best but I'm proud of it. So most of the delay was because of writer's block, thorough evaluations and editing, horrible horrible editing. I really do hope you enjoyed the chapter and I didn't freak you out too much. Oh, and also have a scary, creepy, candy snarfing Halloween. I know it's coming up in a few days, no, I'm wrong. A week from now.


	42. Kids of Summer

Thought I finish the chapter before I go to bed. Now I'm tired...and I'm done. It was a successful night, indeed.

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)

Chapter 42: Kids of Summer

Anxious as anybody to read his science report on the effects of earthquakes related to geographic movements, Zim sat patient in his desk. He tapped his fingers on the polished surface listening to a fellow classmate report on the devastating decrease of the Amazon Rainforest. Millie wept tears closing the deal of how much she really cares.

"Thank you, Millie." Their science teacher, Mr. Bastra, pronounced leaning on the side lab table. "There's a tissue box on my desk behind you. Please, take one."

Millie wiped a tear with her finger, took a tissue and walked to her seat.

"Alright, before we continue, does anyone have a report just as moving as Millie's?"

No one spoke. They looked around excepting someone to raise their hand.

"Okay, Zim, you're up."

Zim stood out of his seat and presented himself to the class. He spoke loud and timely of his topic. Kind of went into more detail of fault areas and plate boundaries than needed but he wanted a passing grade. By the end of his presentation, the class clapped as be expected or given.

"Excellent research, Zim. Cold facts, how I like to learn from Earth."

"Not with magma involved, Sir." Zim boasted a joke. His teacher laughed at its cheesiness. Zim walked and sat down at his desk. Mr. Bastra recovered and stepped slow to the front of the classroom like a savvy businessman. Though he may not dress it, in his knit pine green sweater and beige slacks, he's frigid like any shark loan. He seems intimidating but really he was a very logical man.

"Class, as you already know, this week is final exams. The schedule is as follow: Wednesday is first and second periods, Thursday is third and fourth, and lastly Friday is fifth and sixth period exams." He readdressed the facts, "You need to study, don't let pleasant childhood memories distract you. These exams are important and count 30% of your final grade so keep focus and study!"

The bell rang right on time when completing his statement.

"Alright, class dismissed." They, as a unit, got up and left the classroom to attend sixth period. Zim was the exception not looking forward to summer break. Days are dwindling down. Zim walked to the last class, sat and was reminded of this fact when his less stern algebra teacher repeated the same lecture. Zim wrote notes of what kind of problems would be on the exam. Then the day arrived to its end when the last bell rang. School was over for Monday. Zim stood up alongside his classmates and exit the room to the hallway. Upon entering, he let a few of his excited peers pass him and walked an easy going pace. He spied Dib across the hallway. Dib witness him and Zim smiled a smug grin.

"How's that hang over of yours?"

"For the fifth time, it's gone!" Dib aggravated shouted to stop Zim from mentioning it but his efforts are useless. "It's been gone since last night."

"I know, I just like bringing it up. It's the first time in awhile I've seen you so stupid." He cheerfully jeered him, "You were really, really, really stupid."

"Stop it," Dib regretted the events, "I like to forget that happened."

"Relax," Zim said, "I won't tell anyone as long as you don't especially your father."

"Fine, I know when to keep my mouth shut like I said in my drunken rampage, the only sense I made all night. I won't give you recognition of losing your virginity over me. I could never live that down." Dib said. They turned away and began walking to the lockers.

"Don't feel bad, Dib. It's not a big deal." Zim insisted but Dib stopped his pace.

"You're a hideously green bug creature from outer space. How you actually got laid is beyond me."

"I'm a fortunate, lucky guy," Zim pronounced. "To have a special lady who thinks I'm handsome."

"You're so conceited." Dib stated a fact.

"Just stating the obvious."

"So am I." Dib strikes back. Zim rolled his eyes and walked along side Dib to their locker. Upon entering to the right, they spotted their friends: Tina, Josh, Brian and Mary. Mary instantly greeted Zim and held his hand. She stood by his left opposite where Dib presented himself. She smiled at Dib.

"Hi, Dib," Mary said.

"Hello, Mary." Dib forced a pleasant greeting.

"Hey, Zim, Dib," Tina shouted. She was holding a book with a gray cover. She wasn't the only one. Josh, Brian and Mary had the same book too. "The yearbooks are out. Did, you buy one?"

"No, never really made the deadline." Zim admitted. "Not interested in fitting into the complexity of maintaining a facade of acceptable human social behavior anymore."

"I think you would be interested in this!" Tina said and spreads open the pages she wanted all to see. It was the track team page, under the team's photo, printed in edgy font, 'Heated Victory,' showing a picture of Zim and Mary kissing after they won. Zim and Dib gawked at the photo while Mary shyly blushed. She already knew of the picture.

"How-how did they?" Zim shocked to say took the book out of Tina's possession.

"You think the yearbook staff would miss this?" Tina stated. Josh rolled his eyes.

"They have nothing better to do." Josh said very jealous Zim had this picture while he had only his class photo.

"The staff does their best." Brian defended them. "Nothing really happens around here unless you're following Zim."

"Gah," Zim scuff at the statement though he was over exaggerating. "I don't do much."

"You beat up a guy at Prom, joined a track team short notice and win then make out in front of everyone." Dib summed up in a neat sentence. "Yep, so much for your 'not interested in fitting in', though you are right. You don't fit in, you stand out!"

"Is that a problem?" Zim asked annoyed by his tone.

"It is, being who you are." Dib reminded of his situation. Zim stumped and sighed realizing his mistakes.

"I'll try not to be a bother." Zim silently said. Zim returned Tina's book and quickly perked up. "Maybe I'll buy a yearbook if I can."

"Sure you can. They always have extra but they are pricy for the many they have left."

"Well, I do have cash on me. I'll get one." Zim humbly said. He had more money than he led on.

"Then we can write in each others yearbooks." Mary chimed in a suggestion. Zim gazed to her.

"Yes, I would too and express more than what I couldn't last Friday." Zim said. Mary blushed deep while Dib scowled at the idea almost to the point of gagging.

"So you guys did do something last Friday." Tina said sticking her nose in their business. "What was it?"

"Went to the movies." Zim shouted but at unison Mary uttered. "Had a picnic."

"We had a picnic then went to movies later." Zim blended the lie. "We had a fun time."

Zim felt the grip of Mary's hand clutch tighter but he decreased the tension with a smile. Assuring and calm he would keep their secret.

"Whatever, sound like a wacky adventure." Tina stated.

"Hey!" They heard a shout, better yet a warning. Devin came behind Zim and smacked him on the back. Dib stepped away from the assault. Zim turned around seeing he was friendly. "What happen to you Friday? We all got our picture taken for the yearbook, you sap. Now you missed out on an opportunity of lifetime."

"Oh, I didn't miss anything." Zim spoke matter-of-fact.

"What do you mean by that? Don't undermine me! I know you weren't there or else we would have waited for you!" Devin continues to shout.

"Tina, show him the bloody picture." Zim ask of her. Tina, yet again, flipped through the yearbook and shamed Devin.

"Unbelievable! How come they showed you kissing her but not of me and Kate?"

"You kissed Kate?" Zim unaware this happened.

"Hell, yeah!" Devin said, "Best kiss ever, better than you guys."

"Okay…" Zim dotted a blank. "It's not a contest."

"It just became a contest especially if the yearbook staff doesn't think me and Kate not photogenic enough to be in the yearbook!" Devin exclaimed then marched. "I'm going to find those nerds and give them a piece of my mind."

He stomped through the hallway motivated to straighten out the injustice. They stared briefly when he stormed away then Zim glanced back at the photo of something peculiar.

"Oh, look, they are in the picture." Zim stated seeing them in the background of Mary and Zim kissing.

Zim stood in line at the stand where they sold remaining copies of the yearbook. To no luck on his side, they sold the last copy before he was third to receive one. He found it depressing he wouldn't get the chance to cherish these memories but in a way, it really didn't matter. He had the chance of a lifetime he hoped for many years. He had friends, people like him, he has a girlfriend he loves so much and a family he was fond of. And here he was again, denied due to his cultural background to keep a normal life but like many times, the past seems to come up with both the good, wonderful memories and the ones he has to face. He wished it wouldn't have to end in dire consequences.

Zim and Mary arranged a study session later tonight. He had to choose later since Zim agreed to go with Dib and Membrane gathering the equipment he needed for the trip. The few essentials such as: fuel, oxygen, emergency mechanical parts, and disposable needs. They were to pick up these magical household items at their local Laboratory. So when buying a yearbook was a bust, Zim and patient Dib caught a ride from Membrane. He, being the top dog, didn't have to explain to his partners why he was taking home supplies from the lab since he owned the company. His associates gladly helped, no questions asked, especially about the green teenager they never seen at his lab Membrane claimed to be his son. Zim and Dib spent the afternoon stuffing six tanks of oxygen and gas in the car while Membrane chatter with his fellow scientists leaving the manual labor to the young. Dib called shot gun and Zim sat in the back rubbing elbows with oxygen and gas tanks. Zim held the tanks when Membrane made a sharp left turn out of the parking lot.

"Unmmmmm…Are you sure this is safe?" Zim question whether his life is slightly endangered.

"Certainly, just don't loosen a valve and light a match. Good that I smoke on occasion." Membrane said then took out matches from his front pocket and gave them to Dib. "Here, Dib, keep your hands on these so I won't be tempted."

Dib look down at the box of matches then smiled a disturbing grin. He turned to Zim.

"Just one stroke and I could end your existence." Dib tried to tease Zim.

"If you dare, you and Membrane will be doomed too."

"I know, I tease." Then Dib solemnly misses Zim's moronic self, falling for his tricks and argue his way out of them like he knew all along. Times change and Zim developed a few or several IQ points. He wasn't the idiotic alien who landed on Earth, he became so much better. He will be leaving as Earth's protector. Dib admired his purpose though little envious. He had to be home base security while Zim gets all the action. Dib tried to free his jealousy and thought it was stupid. Zim didn't want this; he was forced to be an Invader once more.

The guys returned safely without incident. Membrane backed up the car then Dib and Zim unloaded and place the extra stuff in the garage for safe keeping. Zim waved farewell to them after everything was in order and walked to Mary's house. He knocked on the front door appropriately and waited. Professor Weylin answered.

"Hello, Zim," Prof. Weylin said but wasn't disgruntled. "Please, come in."

"Thank you, Sir." Zim said and didn't know why he thanked him but it seems like the polite gesture he could do at the moment. Zim followed the man of the house.

"So, getting ready for finals?" Prof. Weylin started up a conversation.

"Yes, I'm here to study with Mary if you don't mind." Zim told him their agenda.

"No, not at all." He admitted then he went to the bookshelf and viewed the selection. Zim felt the strange need to continue their little chit-chat.

"How was the convention?"

"It was crazy but riveting for the public and press. I wish I could have enjoyed it. It was an honorable nightmare having to represent every scientific achievement in the company. I just don't understand why your Dad gave me the responsibility. I'm a mathematician, not a public speaker."

"My Dad must have given you the duty because you were more qualified than the others and can trust you representing his ideas." Zim explained neatly then a thought occurred to him. Did he just call Membrane Dad?

"You sure are a brown noser." Prof. Weylin caught on his game.

"I, uh, stating the facts, Sir." Zim brought up a conclusion.

"You don't say?" Prof. Weylin said picked a book and shuffled through the pages. To the balcony, Zim spotted Mary and smiled. Mary stepped down greeting them.

"Hi, whatcha' you guys talking about?" Mary asked.

"Oh, nothing. Zim's trying to be on my good side." Weylin told her.

"He's on your good side?" Mary asked.

"Right now, yes," He admitted.

"Then I'm assuming it's okay we study upstairs."

"Yes, it is sweetie," he said and sat in the armchair. Mary grabbed Zim's hand and walked him upstairs.

"Were you being nice to my father?" Mary taunted Zim.

"I'm always respectful, sometimes he doesn't like me. This must be the exception."

"My Dad is warming up to you." Mary said as she stepped in her room. She cleared off inky black work from her white board. "So, what can I help you with?"

"Just a few recent problems I'm having trouble comprehending."

"Okay," Mary said and gave Zim a black marker pen. "Write them on the board and let's figure it out."

Zim wrote out the troubling problems and Mary recognized what to do. She explained the process step by step. Zim understood and wrote down the discovery.

"Is that all?" Mary asked him.

"Yep," Zim wrote down the final step.

"You're been doing well in Calculus?"

"Yes, I have been getting good scores. I might get a B+ as my final grade."

"Excellent, then I taught you well." Mary smiled and moseys to her desk. From her front desk drawer, Mary pulled out a colorful card. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?" Zim asked curious of what she's holding.

"Could you read over my Irken," she said and sat next to Zim. "I thought since you were returning home, you might see Skoodge and can give him this card from me. I want to thank him for giving me the Striking Gem though it won't be in person." Zim stared at the colorful ribbon spelled card. 'Thank you' was streamed in red ribbon and under it in yellow it read, 'to a good friend'.

"You really are a sweet heart." Zim commented greatly on her kindness. "I will edit but I'm not going home. I'm traveling to Meekrob, remember?"

"Oh," Mary suddenly recalled. "Oh, right."

"But if I happen to see him, I will deliver." Zim said then opened the card. "Now, let's see…" Zim read the lines smoothly, no errors yet so far. The greeting was perfect and Zim thought highly of her for writing perfect Irken until he read the last sentence. He baffled at what she wrote and pointed to the sentences. "What are you trying to say here?"

Mary looked over it. She found what Zim was pointing.

"I value our friendship and hope happiness wherever you may be."

"It reads, 'I validate our Finland and help ladle where doddles you hotdog."

"You have hotdogs in space?" Mary pondered this food was part of the Irken language.

"Yes, but not made of what you think."

"Ewww…."

"Okay, I'll correct this for you with your permission of course." Zim offered and she nodded.

"Go right ahead." Mary accepted the corrections. Zim erased the last sentence then jot what she quote.

"Here, that should be correct." Zim handed her the card but she refused it.

"You'll have to give it to him. I wish I could." Mary said. Zim nodded. Mary gave him the envelope to enclose in. Zim accepted the duty as a side project if it can be achieved. Mary stared at the white board and wondered. "Did you get a yearbook?"

"No, they ran out before I could buy one." Zim admitted his misfortune. Mary looked up at the ceiling then gazed down to her book bag. She opened it and brought out the book she needed, her own yearbook.

"Zim, I want you to have this." Mary said. Zim saw the book and shook his head.

"No, I couldn't. I couldn't take your yearbook."

"Please, I insist you take it. It will help you more than it will for me. You'll be lonely in space. The pictures will keep you company of us, your friends and who you're fighting for so please take my book." Mary said dear. Zim looked to the girl with much concern and sincerity. Zim accepted her gift and placed it on his lap.

"Thank you, Mary." Zim smiled small and genuine. "I'm very moved you gave me this and to be honest I'm sort of jealous it wasn't me who intended to give you the Striking Gem. It's more of a worthy gift than anything I could give you." He lowered his head but Mary picked up his chin.

"Skoodge may have given me a silly pretty stone but you gave me more of everything I need. You freed my doubts when I'm worried. You care and help me when I'm in trouble and defend my honor if others try to bring me down. I thought your company just being with you was the greatest gift I couldn't repay until one magical evening we gave each other our bodies and souls, and knew it was the best gift we could possess symbolizing our love and devotion. The best gift I can get from you is you, Zim."

Zim kissed her lips then and now and held both their hands.

"And I will give you more." Zim confess gazing in her eyes. "I love you," They sealed lips. Zim shifted his pose forward to Mary. Mary rested her hands on his chest, her usual spot but suddenly one hand wrapped around and covered his neck. She rubbed his neck and her fingers through Zim's faux hair. Zim had his hands occupied caressing her hip feeling the smooth familiar shape of her body. They opened their eyes briefly and engaged in a snuggling Eskimo kiss. Zim felt adventurous, ducked under her chin and kissed her neck. Zim embraced her hips and kissed repeatedly. Mary giggled at his nibbles and kept her eyes on the door of all places enjoying his playful affection. Mary heard a quick creak then shudder recognizing the sound, the door swung open. Shock and surprise hit both daughter and father when revealed the make-out session Zim sucking on Mary's neck. Zim unaware because nobody said anything continue though nothing was happening. He kissed her neck passionate to his cause. Mary pushed Zim away to stop. He pondered why she did.

"What's a matter, sweetie," Zim ask. "Am I too rough?"

Mary expressed a twisted horror on her face, sheet white. Zim became worried.

"What?"

Mary tilted Zim's head and he saw the full length, the rage boiling inside her father.

"And what do you think you're doing?!" Prof. Weylin screamed loud as he can. Zim squirms a response.

"Not…Studying…" He squirmed like he was caught in a trap, a parent's trap!

"Then it's best you should go!"

"O-okay…" Zim agreed, picked up the yearbook and backpack and ducked away from her father afraid he was going to hurt him and he had the right to be suspicious because Prof. Weylin threw his book at him.

"And nobody but me calls my daughter, 'sweetie', you got that?"

"I got it." Zim recovered from being stuck by the book then ran downstairs and out the door.

"Get your brown nosing butt out of my house!" Prof. Weylin shouted from the stairway.

"Dad!" Mary's face brightens up in anger and embarrassment. "Why did you do that, what did you need to come into my room anyways?"

"I was going to ask if you borrowed one of my books."

"And you didn't bother to knock first?"

"I shouldn't need to and I was right to act on it. That boy was slobbering on you taking advantage of my sweet innocent girl."

"But Zim is my boyfriend, what do you think is going to happen? He's not taking advantage of me!"

Meanwhile walking home, Zim faced his own dilemma.

"I blew it!" Zim held his head in despair. "Mary's dad hates me for sure."

It distressed Zim he created conflict between her and her father and called Mary later to apologize. She calmed his worries and also warned him not to come over for awhile and Zim accepted it. After the call, he didn't know why he upset Prof. Weylin so much or why he cares. He soon came to terms that he secretly seeks Weylin's acceptance before he can reveal himself as the Irken alien creature dating his daughter. So until the day Prof. Weylin accepts him, Zim has to be discreet.

The remainder of the week was a painful bore. Final exams were here much of everyone's dread. Though Zim was prepared, it was tedious. Each exam day by day was the constant memento his time on Earth is almost up. The exam in Mr. Holic's was as hard as always but he spared the electronic test scanner to avoid humiliation. Gym, fitness test running around the field and performing push-ups and sit-ups were a piece of cake. English was a review of the books they read all year and few vocabulary questions she sneaked in. History was an easier review of what they studied last quarter and was the same format in Earth Science with little changes involving their lab projects. The final day of exams, Friday, is present and Zim efficiently completed his Algebra exam.

He sat quiet waiting for the approaching minutes before skool ended. It rang finally and Zim placed his exam on Mrs. Roster's desk. She smiled, "Thanks, good luck for the award."

"What award?" Zim clearly had no idea what she was yapping about.

"For the one I nominated you Student of the Year, remember?"

"Oh, right," Zim said drifted into space when she mentioned it. "It was such a long time ago."

"I'm sure you'll win. You are the big track star on campus and you excelled in your grades drastically."

"Well, I don't think I'm a track star, as you say but I will agree. I improved my grades. Too bad it won't matter."

"Huh? What do you mean, Zim?" She questions concern of his meaning.

"No, it's nothing." Zim assured her and smiled to avoid suspicion. "Thanks again for the nomination. Good bye."

Zim walked out of the room before his teacher could stop and ask why, why he was being pessimistic. He had his reasons. Scared, nervous, anxious of the future, his future and the skool facade he carried for himself may never matter in the end. He may never come back and have to say good bye to everyone. His friends, family, Mary, Gir and Minimoose. It was difficult to imagine and he thought of it made him very depressed. He wanted to forget about it this weekend and relax before he leaves Tuesday. Upon walking, he notice Mary and smiled. He called out to her.

"Hello, Mary!"

She turned around to see seemingly cheerful Zim. She stepped forward.

"Hello, Zim. How was the test?" Mary asked.

"It was easy compared to Calculus. I breezed through it."

"Oh, good." Mary said glad of the success.

"Mary, I was wondering. Would you like to hang out this weekend?" He asked eagerly but Mary lowered her head.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I would love to but my father won't allow it." Mary openly explained. "He's still mad about what happened Monday and doesn't want me to be around you."

"Does this mean it's over between us? You don't want to see me too."

"No, of course not!" Mary suddenly exclaimed. "I still love you but for the time being we have to keep our distance until I can persuade my Dad to turn the other cheek. Maybe if you apologize, it could help change his mind."

"But, Mary, I can't apologize for what I feel about you." Zim expressed to her. "I just don't know what to do. If I talk to him, he may convince me to end it with you. It's pointless to try. He hates me." Mary held his arm and looked him in the eyes.

"Zim, I don't want you worrying." Mary said and kissed his cheek. "Please, focus on training and I'll deal with this mess. Okay?" Zim nodded and they kissed. Mary released their lips. "Good, my Dad is picking me up. I'll see you next week." Mary turned around and walked away. The optimistic joy of being with Mary all weekend was destroyed. He stumped and scooted his feet to his locker. Dib noticed his melancholy.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing…" Zim tried to deny.

"Something is, don't deny it. You're very gloomy. I can tell by your face."

"Okay, something is up. I might as well tell you…"

Zim was about to spill the beans until Tina intervene.

"Zim, give me your yearbook!" Tina demanded. Zim reached into his backpack he carried on hand, took out the yearbook and gave to Tina.

"Here you go. Take it." Zim plopped in her hands. Tina looked at him strangely.

"You're not even going to ask why I want it." Tina wondered.

"Nope." Zim simply stated and walked away like a hopeless widow.

"What's wrong with him?" Tina asked Dib not affected by gloom.

"Down in the dumps. I'll find out." Dib said and Tina nodded.

"Okay Zim! Feel better! I'll give it back Monday!" Tina said and ran off. Dib caught up with Zim.

"Now, tell me what happen?" Dib said, "Are you nervous about leaving."

"Yes, but I'm mostly upset I don't get to spend any time with Mary because her Dad hates me."

"He's still mad about him catching you two making out."

"Yes, in fact, he wants Mary to avoid me."

"Is she?"

"No…She says she'll try to talk to him."

"Then there's nothing to worry about. She'll set her Dad straight. Cheer up, besides you shouldn't waste your weekend. We have to prepare the ship and stock what you need, fly and all sorts of things. We'll have fun too. Come on, let's go to my house and tune up the ship." Dib suggested. Zim followed along without question and proceed with working on the ship maintenance at Dib's house still yearning to spend time with his beloved Mary; he kept that emotion away from Dib as he tried his best motivating Zim. Late tonight, Zim's robotic pals visited him outside the gate. They entered unannounced and created uproar saying they found him. Zim apologized and told them he got caught up preparing the ship and practicing procedures. Zim commented to Dib, it was late and they should turn in for the night and start again tomorrow. Dib, of course, concurred wanting to rid of the little pests. Dib wasn't ready to care for them, not yet. Zim took them home retiring for the evening.

Zim woke early Saturday morning but stayed in bed discontent of the necessary weekend training. Zim would have been more energetic if Mary were to assist but no, it wasn't going to happen given the situation. He got out of bed at ten o'clock, dressed and went over to Dib's house picking up where they left off yesterday. Dib installed the oxygen tank into the air control system and Zim enter the coordinates from here to Meekrob in the navigational system. They were on and off busy prepping anything which came to mind until evening. Zim sought for a break before flying. They came inside and Dib sprung an idea.

"How about we play video games until it's dark out." Dib suggested.

"Eh, why not?" Zim shrugged his shoulders. "It's something to do."

"Okay, I'll borrow some good games from Gaz." Dib said and walked upstairs. Zim sat in living room. He waited for the sun to set to begin flight training and playing video games was a way to achieve wasted time. Dib promptly return with the game of choice. It was a multiplayer adventure game. They picked up the controller, created their characters and began their first quest. When completed with their third quest, Zim looked at the time and saw it was after nine. The sun was setting leaving a dark blue and purple ring around it. Zim told Dib they need to stop and flying is next on the agenda. Dib agreed and save their game. Zim stood up from the couch. Dib sat where he was. Didn't bother to move. He picked up the remote and flipped the channels for something to watch. Zim pondered if Dib might actually want to join him in this flight and asked.

"Dib, did you want to go flying with me?"

Dib never flew in the ship and Zim thought he could enjoy the experience. Dib was cool when he accepted. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure, why not?"

Dib got up and joined Zim outside to the spaceship opened the latch and offered Dib to enter first. Dib stepped into the cockpit and admired the set up. Josh and Zim did a spectacular job creating the control panel. Dib looked around for an extra seat. There was none, only the pilot's chair. Zim sat in it.

"Where am I supposed to sit?"

"Anywhere and I would sit down if I were you."

Dib sat down behind Zim's bolted down chair and hung on the arm. Zim activated the control board and lift off straight up into the air. Zim adjusted to the thrust while it made Dib queasy. Zim stopped and remain idle when they reach high altitude barely skimming the Earth's atmosphere. Stood up and recover from the force. Then out the window, Dib witness a magnificent sight. Below them, the Earth, precious beauty curve planet. Oceans covered by swirly clouds and land to its primitive perspective. They stood above the Earth like they were in the corner of God's eye. Dib awed at the brilliance.

"Wow…" Dib admired the breath taking view.

"It's amazing, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Thought you want to see this." Zim stated. Zim drove forward at sixty miles per hour so it wouldn't throw Dib off balance. They glided around the Earth though they were skating on the surface. Dib peered on Zim focus piloting the ship. The serious expression on his face was critical. Dib didn't disturb his or joke around. He completed his exercise without distraction and flew across one continent to another and back again with great and fair warning for Dib. He sat down on the floor to avoid injury. When Zim was ready to land, Dib complimented Zim.

"You way improved, better than when you had one hundred percent of your memory." Dib stated. Zim baffled at what Dib meant then remembered after operation he had ninety-six of his memory recalled.

"Thank you," Zim took the compliment with good intentions. Zim slowed down for impact and landed the ship carefully in their yard. Membrane stood outside the whole time watching Zim land the ship. They stepped out of the cockpit aware of his presence. Membrane asks:

"Everything is running smoothly?"

"Yes, Membrane." Zim answered him. Membrane nodded and walked into the house. Dib and Zim followed the elder. They entered the living room and resumed of what they were playing. Membrane shook his head.

"How long are you planning to stay up?" Membrane asked the duo.

"Not very long." Dib fudged the truth to his father. Membrane allowed it.

"Alright, just don't stay up too late." Membrane said then walked up to his room.

Overlooking Membrane's easily applied warning, Dib and Zim stood up way over pass midnight playing the epic multiplayer knight game completing quests. Dib's eyes blood shot on the screen pressed various buttons to defeat the big baddy.

"C'mon…" Dib grunted. Zim practically said nothing. Dib notice Zim's character stood still.

"Zim, what are you doing? Focus!" Dib shouted then turn to Zim who was half asleep. Zim awoke from the vegetate state.

"Huh, what now?" Zim uttered.

"Help beat this Minotaur." Dib reminded Zim.

"Uhhh…Okay." Zim said lowered his controller and closed his eyes. When Dib attacked the Minotaur, Zim dozed off asleep. Dib failed to defeat the monster.

"Aw man! Damn it! Zim, you did nothing!" Dib shouted at Zim and found the reason why. He slept on the arm of the couch. The wireless controller fell from his lap to the floor. Dib sighed.

"I'll call it a night." Dib picked up the controller and put them both away next to the console. He turned off the lights, left Zim where he is and went to bed.

Zim found himself the next morning laid on Dib's couch. He opened an eyelid and spied the cushion his head pinned into. He sat up, stretched his arms and yawned. Dib, who was in the kitchen, stood up and checked on Zim. Dib stared at Zim as he turned over his shoulder and saw him.

"You're finally awake." Dib stated. Zim yawned once more then fix his wig.

"Did I really fell asleep on your couch?"

"Yep," Dib peeped.

"Boy, that's embarrassing." Zim muttered.

"Yeah, whatever. Have breakfast then we can finish updating the ship." Dib said and went to the kitchen eating his fruity loops cereal in milk. Zim stumbled into the kitchen and looked around if there's anything he can eat. He opened a cabinet and then glances to Dib because he didn't find anything.

"What you got?" Zim asked him.

"Look in the freezer." Dib stated. Zim opened the top freezer of the fridge and spied frozen waffles.

"I'm sick of waffles."

"Then have pop tarts," Dib said. "We have strawberry."

"Okay, I'll take it." Zim said and saw the box, ripped the wrapper and stuck the tarts in the toaster. Wait a couple of minutes until they popped. Zim picked up a plate from the cupboard, place his pop tarts, took it to the table and sat down. "What time is it?" he asked the clock dubbed Dib.

"Dude, a quarter after ten." Dib stated.

"What, why you let me sleep in that long?"

"It's just ten. It's not too late." Dib said, "I just got up too, ya know. Now eat your box pastries."

Zim swore under his breath and ate the cheap breakfast. They completed the meal and went outside. They began production and twenty minutes in it, they were interrupted by Gir and Minimoose wondering in the yard.

"Yahoo!" Gir squealed excited to see Zim. Minimoose zoomed over his head in place. "Hi, Zim! Whatcha' doing?"

"Working on the ship." Zim told them.

"Anyway we can help?" Gir asked eager to lend a helping hand or foot.

"No, not really. You goof off somewhere else. We got this."

This is the moment where Gir loses it. Gir screamed and screamed louder.

"I wanna help! I wanna help!"

"Okay, okay! Be quiet!" Zim persistent through the screams. After calming Gir, he found a meager task for Gir. Zim picked up a board left to its side against the patio table, a hammer and a box of nails in the tool box.

"I want you to hammer nails into this board." Zim told him. Gir peered at the board and hammer in delight awe.

"Oooooo…" Gir cooed and ran to the front yard. Dib glance at Zim uncertain of this hoax.

"You sure that can keep Gir busy?"

"It will for the meantime." Zim said and went into the ship. Once in, he was submerged checking each detail, top to bottom. Zim got out of the cockpit checking on Dib who was over viewing the engine. Minimoose was observing Dib.

"Everything should be in order." Dib stated shutting the cover.

"Yes, the extra oxygen tanks and gasoline are secure in place and away from each other. Gasoline hitched to the right, oxygen to the left to avoid any accidents."

"The supplies should be placed directly in the back since it will be the lightest compared to the gasoline and tanks." Dib said.

"Alright, is the engine acceptable?"

"More than acceptable, it's grand and shouldn't have any problems."

"Good then all I need is food, perishable will not due." Zim said.

"We'll go shopping later." Dib said. Zim turned a blind corner and saw someone lurking behind the shoulder height gate. It was Mary; she opened the gate while carrying a wrapped paper plate.

"Mary!" Zim called to her excited. Dib turned his head and saw her. Zim shook Dib's arm letting him see what he already knew. "It's Mary, Dib! She came to visit it me!" Zim shouted unable to hold his excitement then cool his demeanor once he realized how foolish he was acting. "Hi," Zim recovered nonchalant. Mary giggled and entered the backyard.

"I'm thrilled to see you too, Zim." Mary said and shut the back gate. "I thought you might be here. I saw Gir in the front yard and put the pieces together."

"We just finished all the adjustments." Zim clued her in. "So does this mean we can hang out since you're here?"

"Actually, my Dad doesn't know I'm here. I just got back from participating at the Orphanage's bake sale. I thought I stop by and bring cookies I baked that didn't sell well. Nobody wanted to buy my sugar cookies and all the kids wanted chocolate chip." Mary smiled and chuckled not really offended by them overlooking her plain cookies.

"Well, I for one love your cookies. Thanks for stopping by and bringing us delicious treats." Zim said, took the plate and kissed her forehead.

"Thanks, Mary," Dib chimed in. "That's very thoughtful."

"You're welcome, but I should go before my Dad gets suspicious." She stops looking out the back gate. "Before I go, just curious, when did you guys have time to put in a moat?"

"What?" Both said baffled. Mary slinked away surprised how loud they snapped at her.

"Uh, the moat in your front yard." Mary responded. Dib and Zim ran out to the front yard and saw it. A trench was dug and filled with water half way around the house stopping at the driveway. A shovel was tossed across the yard and Gir raveled the hose to its rightful wheel alongside the garage. Gir grabbed the wooden board, hammer and box of nails. He placed the board across the gap connecting the concrete to the grass creating a special bridge.

"My yard!" Dib cried out of shock.

"Gir!" Zim snapped at the little robot. "What's wrong with you? Why, why did you do this?"

Gir ignored Zim and continue hammering in the grass.

"My yard! Dad's going to flip when he sees this!" Dib drawn conclusions. Zim walked forward and stopped his hammering taking away the tool. Gir whined.

"Give it back!" Gir complained. "It's not done yet."

"Yes it is." Zim sternly put a halt on the project.

"Zim, you have to fix this!" Dib demanded. Zim turned his way to protest.

"Me?!" Zim said, "I didn't command him to create the moat."

"Well, he's your robot, therefore, your responsibility. Besides, you gave him the tools."

"I gave him a fucking board and nails. I didn't carelessly leave a shovel in the driveway to tempt the little beast."

"So it's my fault your robot dug a moat in my yard?"

"You said it, it must be true!"

"Unbelievable!"

"Don't like it when I turn the situation against you, do you?"

Gir, Mary, and Minimoose watched the boys bicker of who lies the fault of Gir's misdeed. Gir looked up at Mary and pulled on the sock. Mary knelt and pats Gir on the head.

"Did I do something bad?" Gir asked her.

"A little mistake that can be fix." Mary tried to assure him but Zim destroyed that confidence.

"I don't know how to fill a moat!" Zim shouted.

"Learn how!" Dib shouted back.

"What is going on out here?" Someone asked from the steps of the doorway. Membrane stood awaiting an explanation and saw it, the moat semi-circular around his house. "Hmmm… I always wondered what the house would look like with a moat and it looks great!" Membrane approved at Gir's actions then turn to the boys. "Kids, try to keep it down. I'm watching T.V."

Membrane went back in the house. Zim and Dib were profound.

"Yay! I did it!" Gir screamed delighted. Mary smiled that the boys' argument was settled.

"I'll take this as my cue." Mary set an excuse and smiled to Zim. "See you tomorrow, bye." Mary stepped over the waterway and ran out of the yard. Dib stared perplexed.

"Why is she running?" Dib wondered.

"Knowing her, to escape the madness." Zim simply stated then removed the wrapper off the plate and offered him cookies. "Wanna take five?"

Zim didn't mind she left sooner. He knew she had to get home and obey her father's rules though it did sadden him. Would she be able to say goodbye? Zim put it out of his head and completed the maintenance on the ship, after which, he took his robots home and got ready for the last day of skool.

Awakening from his slumber, he arose, dressed and told his robots he will be home soon. It was a half day and skool was only four hours. He carried an almost empty backpack to put any leftover notebooks and extra from his locker home. He ran out the door realizing he was late and zoomed quick to the bus stop. When he arrived, Dib and Gaz were there and he stopped, bend low and pant. Dib asks:

"What took you so long?"

"I-I-" Zim panted each word then stood up as he caught his breath. "I lost track of time. Gir and Minimoose kind of distracted me while I cleared out my backpack."

"Is that all?" Dib wondered if it really was the reason of late arrival. "Well, you made it just in time." Dib cued the bus coming from the distance. Dib, Gaz and Zim boarded in that order and found their seats. Zim didn't spot Mary but assumed enough her father was driving her to skool. It peeved him how much Weylin was interfering in very little time they had together. Gaz spoke out suddenly to Dib.

"Tell Dad I'm hanging out with Xen after skool."

"Why me? You tell him." Dib protested delivering the message. Gaz strikes a nasty glare at Dib and he accepted it. "Fine, fine. I still don't know why I have to do it."

"Because Dad barley answers the phone."

"She's got a point there." Zim added.

"Shut up, Zim." Dib scoff Gaz's unlikely support. They arrived at skool. Gaz walked faster getting away from the two. Dib and Zim promptly walked to their locker. It was Zim's turn to dial the combo.

"Today's a half day." Dib stated.

"Yeah?" Zim questions what of it.

"Whatcha' want to do after skool?" Dib asked. Zim rolled his eyes unable to come up with an idea.

"I don't know." Zim stated, press and lift the tab and opened their locker. Zim grabbed a handful of three tiny notebooks and threw them in his backpack.

"Hey!" Dib cried out.

"What?" Zim snapped.

"One of those is mine, you know?" Dib pointed to the notebook in Zim's backpack.

"Then get it. I don't care. It's junk now." Zim said.

"You're lucky I'm your locker buddy."

"If it was anyone else, I would be diligent." Zim stated. Dib shook his head and grabbed his blue notebook while Zim threw loose leftover papers in his backpack. "Where's the trash can?"

"Not here." Dib said took his stuff from the locker and place them his backpack. Apparently, they were the only kids getting the locker cleaning done and out of the way. Their friends, Tina, Brian, Josh, and Mary came by. They stared at the two.

"Uhh… What are you doing?" Tina asked them.

"Cleaning our locker." Zim said.

"Locker clean out is scheduled first period." Josh informed them.

"It is?" Zim stopped what he was doing.

"Yes," Josh confirmed. "It says so in the agenda."

"Heh," Zim smirked slightly embarrassed. "I don't have an agenda." Josh stared at the crimpled mess inside their locker.

"Of course you don't." Josh state. "During clean out, you turn in your books too and return to class before the assembly. That's what it says in the agenda."

"Alright, alright, planner organizer." Zim accepted. "At least we'll be ahead." He then turned to Dib. "Hey, why didn't you tell me this?"

"I didn't know the schedule, nobody reads the agenda." Dib said and corrected himself. "Except for Josh."

"Anyways, we have a surprise for you, Zim." Josh spoke. Tina lifted the yearbook behind her back.

"Da, da, da da, da, da!" Tina beat her own drum roll. "I present your new yearbook." Tina handed her the gift their friends created. Zim opened the book and spied the decorated autograph pages.

"We each signed something great and I put lots of pictures in there from the party, Prom, all sorts of pics. I decorated the pages myself. Now, you have something to look at so you won't feel lonely on your trip. A little reminder how much we care." Tina said.

"Thank you," Zim said really impressed this was why Tina took his yearbook. "This is very nice. I'll read the comments later."

"Do so; we have to go to class." Tina said and shoved Josh to move his butt. Brian and Mary followed the two. Mary turned her head as she walked away and waved bye to Zim. Zim waved back a slum expression of yet again, their time was limited. Zim and Dib put on their backpacks and went into Mr. Holic's classroom.

Of all the classes he had to stay the longest, almost over an hour, it was Mr. Holic's. Mr. Holic wasn't too thrilled either. He stood up waiting for the bell ring and when it did, he got down to business sparing no exceptions for those who were late.

"Settle down and sit your butts in your seats. Listen up!" He shouted to his students. "If we do this calm and orderly most likely we get this done quick and painless and we don't have to see each other in a long time. When you enter the hallways, clean your lockers, give me your assigned book first then visit your other classes and turn in their books. Just to warn you, if anyone who's dumb enough to leave campus, grow a few brain cells and don't! Your principal installed a new alarm system which will set your feet on fire and may travel up your legs once activated. So be good boys and girls and don't play hooky!" Mr. Holic paused and walk towards the door. "Okay, let's go." They stood up out of their desks, crowded in the doorway and piled into the hallway. Students from other classes were present and opened lockers tossing trash in the cylinder and rectangular bins provided. Supervisors watched them as teachers went back in the classrooms. Zim already cleaned out his locker so he was done with phase one. He only opened it to return the books which were left inside. Dib took his books too but decided to travel with Leena instead of him. Zim was indifferent if Dib chose her. He would probably do the same if he sees Mary so he travelled the hallways alone after he gave Mr. Holic the math book. However, when Zim tried to perform the task of returning his books in an orderly manner it was impossible. As he went to one classroom, it was over flown by students giving back books waiting in line for his English teacher to approve the book's condition. Then he had to wait in another line for ten minutes in his history class. He didn't see Mary and gave up hope of finding her in the madness.

After returning the last borrowed textbook, Zim had no other choice but go to Mr. Holic's classroom for the remaining time. Upon entering, Zim saw Leena and Dib leaning on empty desks talking. They and a few others were in class among Mr. Holic. Dib noticed Zim and broke conversation with Leena.

"Hey, you just missed Mary." Dib informed him. Zim turned around like he recently didn't see her pass.

"Really, when?"

"A few minutes ago maybe ten." Dib told him. Not excited by the fumble, Zim sat down in the not-so assigned seat. He had on hand the only book he didn't return, the yearbook. He opened the book and browse through the pages. "Don't be so down, we're planning to sit together at the assembly." But regardless of Dib's efforts, Zim continue flipping through the pages like Dib never really tried. Dib found insult and huffed, "Whatever," and talked to Leena. Zim became consumed in the memorable descriptions of the combinations in pictures and paragraphs written by students he knew. It was melancholy to resist. He flat out ignored Dib but what broke his concentration was Mr. Holic's erupted shout.

"You torn a page?!" Zim looked up. Mr. Holic had the math book staring at the child with great contempt. The boy distraught struggled to defend.

"I tore it by accident. I put on a little tape to fix the page."

"It's still inexcusable!" He could not forgive. "You owe the school a new book!"

"But-but it's a tiny tear. I didn't mean to-"

"I'll be mailing the bill to your parents now get out of my sight." Mr. Holic took the book and waved off the student. He found no use persuading Mr. Holic and slowly left the classroom. Zim glared Mr. Holic a horrible scowl but was discreet to catch his attention. Zim sympathy was with the kid. He knew those pages were thin and fragile and Mr. Holic expects him to pay for a new book. He hates to be in his shoes having to explain this to his parents. Zim spied up at the clock seeing the hour was almost over. He loathed Mr. Holic. All year he gave his classmates a hard time and treated them with disrespect. Why be a teacher if he hates kids? Someone should complain or stand up to him. Then Zim thought up a brilliant idea. Why not him? He was leaving, might as well. Would there be any other given chance to stand up to that jerk and tell him off? Probably not, so he decided to act on it.

When the bell rang, Dib and Leena invited Zim to come with them to the assembly but Zim refused and told Dib and Leena he'll catch up later.

"That's the bell, go to the assembly, and no goofing off. Even though it's the last day of skool, it doesn't give the excuse to be stupid." Mr. Holic said then grabbed his suitcase as his students left the classroom, but one. Zim stood in front of his former teacher's desk waiting for his response.

"Class is over, Zim, what do you want?" Mr. Holic asked.

"Ummmm…Did you already mail our report cards?" Zim finally asked.

"Yes, I did. It's too late to ask for extra credit." Mr. Holic spoke.

"No, I don't want you to change my grade, Sir. I did fairly well. Just asking before I say this. Before, I go to supposedly 'enjoy' my summer I want you to know you are the biggest douche I have ever met. Nobody likes you. You suck and I hate you."

Mr. Holic was not fazed when confessed his dislike. He glances up at Zim sitting in his desk, fingers crossed as he cupped his hands. He smiled to Zim.

"That's fair and agreeable but did you know I can choose whoever students I would like to teach?"

"I didn't know teachers had that power." Zim said truly surprised.

"Oh, but I do and next year I'll be teaching algebra along with Calculus. So go ahead and 'enjoy' your summer for I'll be seeing you next year, Zim. Next year for certain. And if you thought having me for a semester was bad. Having me all year will surely be Hell, for you anyways." Mr. Holic then began to laugh.

"Oh. Shit." Zim muttered walking out of the classroom but looked back with a solution to the problem. "Jokes on him. I'll transfer."

After settling that, Zim joined the cattle and went to the auditorium. Once inside, Zim peered into the seats finding his friends. Dib waved him down. They were located in the middle center before the stage. Zim walked to them. He saw the crew was here, much larger because Penny and Leena joined their group.

"There you are." Dib complained of the untimely manner which he arrived.

"Here, we saved you a seat," Tina showed next to Mary's. "So you can sit with Maaaary." Tina stretched for dramatic effect.

"Uh…Thank you." Zim said not knowing whether she did a good deed or not. It could be a kind gesture. Tina was being Tina. She likes being climatic. Zim took his resigned seat next to Mary. He smiled upon her presence and quickly slipped his hand in hers. He was glad he got to sit with her. It almost made sitting through the boring ceremony worth it. Heck, it practically did in Zim's book. Every student sat down and Principal Bitters slithered on stage accompany by Mr. Covolt.

"Time for the annual ceremony recognizing our brightest students. Don't know why we do it at this skool." Principal Bitters commented but Mr. Covolt laughed lightening up the mood.

"Nice one, she was kidding." Mr. Covolt said, "For perfect attendance of the ninth grade, Ally Masion. Get up here, Ally!" Nobody stood up. "She must not be here, okay. For the tenth grade class."

Throughout the ceremony, Zim's mind wanders looking over Mr. Covolt's head, at other students, to Dib texting.

'Hey, who is he texting?' Zim thought annoyed. 'He's not texting me.' Zim watched a little longer and saw he was engaging texting time with Leena sitting right next to each other. 'Oh, come on, that's not even necessary.' Zim put an end to this. He brought out his cell phone and text Dib. Dib checked his inbox and found Zim's message.

'Get off the phone.' Dib glared at Zim and sent him a massage back.

'You get off your phone. Mind your own business.'

Zim really didn't want to get into a flame war with Dib so he left it alone and whispered to Mary.

"Will you be able to hang out after skool?"

"Zim," Mary whispered. "This isn't the time for talking."

"Just answer me quick." Zim whispered wanting to know so badly.

"Yes, for a little bit." Mary finally said.

"A little bit?" Zim continue the conversation.

"Shhhh…" Mary shushed. She didn't want to be rude during ceremony but Zim could care less, it's not like it matter to him.

"And finally for Student of the Year in the Junior Class, faculty has nominated Zim, our newly risen track team star."

"What?" Zim questioned as students clapped honoring him.

"Zim, you won Student of the Year," Mary informed Zim.

"Get up there, stupid!" Dib shouted at Zim to move his caboose. Zim stood and made way to the stage and up the stairs. He stood beside Mr. Covolt as he handed the certificate. It was surreal standing before his peers given praise for a job well done. He was accepted by them. Not sneered or ridiculed but accepted. Mr. Covolt clapped for Zim and asked as they stand at the podium.

"Is there anything you like to say?"

Is there anything? There was a lot Zim had to admit. He even question whether this would be the appropriate time to come clean of the big fat lie living the human life, but second thoughts clouded his judgment, overwhelmed he was rewarded for improving. Zim paused as he stood at the podium below those who nominated, who support and treated him fairly. This award was petty compare to what he needs to do and he will not be recognized. He seizes this opportunity as though they knew.

"Thank you," Zim said atlas then found his friends in the crowd. "I will do my best." Zim walked away and off stage. Those who listen baffled at what he said and what he meant. His friends knew exactly and did not tell. Zim scoot in his seat and Mr. Covolt continue on. By the end, relieved students gather around the door finding the way out to their freedom. Zim and his friends left as a group so no one gets lost. They stepped out in the parking lot. Josh stretched his arms and cheered.

"Finally! Summer vacation! I've been waiting all year for this!"

He saw most of everyone excited among their group except for Zim, Mary and Dib. Tina and Brian wiped the smile off their face.

"Come on, we're not in skool anymore. We get to do whatever we want." Josh tried brightening up the sorry saps but Zim turned a cold shoulder. He knew he was not helping and gave up on Zim.

"So what you want to do?" Josh asked everyone. "Catch a movie, go to the mall, go out and eat. Anyone?"

"I know," Penny had one, "Let's go to the store and gather lunch for a picnic. It's a perfect day."

"Sure, we can do that." Zim promoted Penny's idea, his promotion wasn't very cheery but he tried to lift his spirits for their sake. Leena had a feeling he was faking.

"You don't look good, Zim. What's wrong?" Leena butted in concerned. His friends didn't say a word and Mary could not intervene. She was well aware she would be stepping her bounds to make up any excuse for Zim. Zim smiled to avoid suspicion.

"Now why would I be sad? I won an award. It's one of the happiest moments of my life." Zim said and put the slip of paper between folds in the binder. He set it in his backpack. "A picnic is a great idea. We should have one."

"Yay!" Penny cheered. "Zim's on board!"

"Alright, if that's what you wanna do." Josh agreed. "Who else is in?"

Mary, Dib, Brian and Tina didn't select any options or objections.

"Okay grocery store here we come." Josh announced.

"I hope they have any sushi left. The best sushi is at McKargo's." Tina said.

"No, Jasper's have the best." Leena disagreed.

"Nu-huh!" Tina rebuttal.

"I'll prove it to you." Leena offered an idea. "I'll take half the guys to Jasper while you take the others to McKargo Super Market. We meet at the park and decide for ourselves."

"You are so on!" Tina accepted the challenge. They were about to split into bodies of two, until an elder called one for Zim. It was his math teacher. They halted any action. Force of habit had them listening to teachers.

"Hello, Zim," She said, "What a nice surprise, you winning Student of the Year."

"Yes, it was," Zim agreed, "Thank you for nominating me."

"You're welcome although I am conflicted of what you said, 'I'll do my best.' Zim, you already did your best."

"Not yet," Zim muttered.

"What was that?"

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right. My mistake." Zim tried covering up the last comment. She gave him a peculiar stare.

"If you need someone to talk to, my email is on the skool's website." Mrs. Roster offered.

"Okay, thanks again. Have a good summer." Zim walked off, the group followed as if he was the pack leader. He may have been for the moment, then they resumed with their plans and Tina, Josh, Brian and Penny piled into Tina's car while Dib, Zim, and Mary rode in Leena's. Leena's car was a lot older than Tina's. It was a red Jeap from 2020, about ten years old. Dib called shot gun and sat in front while Zim and Mary sat in the back seats. Driving out of the parking lot, Mary whispered to Zim.

"What a nosy teacher."

"She's one of those teachers who cares type." Zim somewhat defended her.

"How are you, Zim?" Mary asked knowing she would be the only he could open up to. His teacher will have to remain in the dark. It was Zim's choice.

"I wish I was better prepared. I don't want believe it but it's happening. I'm leaving." Zim said. Mary held his hand. They had their conversation secret due to the loud music Leena played over them.

"I don't know if I can sleep for what I have to do tomorrow. I'm kind of scared."

Mary lowered her head but held Zim's hand dearly as she can. They arrived at the super market and collected the food they wanted at the picnic. Soda, chips, paper cups and plates, plastic ware, and thin pack of napkins. Leena picked up the sushi while Dib swung more open to having a sandwich from the deli. Mary chose a Caesar salad and Zim decided to have the cucumber rolls egged on by Leena's high praise of the store's sushi. They paid and brought the stuff in the car. They drove and met the gang already outside Tina's car waiting.

"So, where we gonna eat?" Josh said looking around for park benches.

"I have an old blanket in the truck we can use." Leena suggested.

"How old is it?" Josh cautious in asking.

"Not that old." Leena took offense, turn the key and opened the truck. She pulled out the long blue and pink checkered blanket.

"It's not old, it's hideous!" Josh shouted.

"Shut up!" Leena said then found a spot clear of rocks and spread it on the grass.

"Look what I bought at the store." Tina announced then took out the foam yellow football. "It's a Narf football, I could have bought a real one but didn't because Josh doesn't know how to throw a real football. Now, everybody gets to play."

"Why must you shame me, woman?" Josh questioned Tina. They laughed at Josh's inability. Mary brought out the paper ware and handed each a plate. They sat in a circle, each person to their date, via Zim and Mary, Leena and Dib, Josh and Tina, and Brian and Penny. They piled the soda liters and extra necessities in the middle. Tina and Leena split their sushi for the little contest. They tested it and found it hard to compare quality because they were uniquely good. It was a draw. Penny sighed after she ate the last spoonful coleslaw off her plate.

"It's such a gorgeous day!" Penny exclaimed. "It's warm and sunny, so relaxing."

"Summer came early this year." Brian commented.

"It's nice," she said and put her arm around Brian's waist. They enjoyed their gluttony then moved forward to another activity. Josh picked up the foam football and pointed to Zim. Zim wondered why he chose him as a challenge but didn't resist and suggested they should play a bit. Everyone joined in the game except for Mary. She was still eating her salad. They invited her to join in when she's ready. She watched from the blanket them splitting in teams. Zim, Penny and Brian on one team and Tina, Josh, Dib and Leena the other. They decided to count Zim as two players since he was most athletic. They used trees as touchdown points on each side. When finish with lunch, Mary picked up left over plates and threw them away in the garbage bins. She didn't get involved because although the uneven players, Josh's team were still in a disadvantage. Zim and Brian became mighty foes earning already twenty points in their two and four point system. It was too much for Josh. He snarled at Tina.

"We are losing!"

"Then do something, Josh." she said. "At least I'm trying."

Zim smiled stood by overhearing the spat.

"Ready to forfeit and admit defeat?" He displayed smug grin holding the puff ball in one hand.

"No way, we will rise." Josh shouted.

"Well, you have two more chances to try." Zim said and cackled an insulting laugh. Josh gritted his teeth. Tina saw his expression.

"Relax, it's just a game."

"Not anymore, it's personal!" Josh exclaimed. They met at the outside of Josh's team goal line marked by the pine tree. Josh had his eyes on Zim hunch over with the team. When Dib hiked the ball to Zim, Josh pounced Zim. The sudden jump startled Zim. He slipped backwards and bonked his head on the tree trunk. Zim groaned while his friends were speechless, for a meager second.

"Josh, what's wrong with you?" Dib shouted.

"What, I tackled him." Josh said and got up unharmed. Zim still lay back on the tree.

"Oh, my God, you hurt Zim!" Penny proclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Leena hunched over him. Zim moaned.

"Owwwwww…ch!"

"Zim!" From a distance shout then was near. Mary ran to his side. "Zim, are you okay? How's your head?"

"Throbbing like a horrible headache." Zim said, "But I'll be fine. I'm sitting this game out."

Zim leaned forward and Mary helped him up. Brian was displeased with the injury.

"I'm calling a foul."

"You can't call foul on me!" Josh protested. "I just tackled him."

"You tackled him into a tree." Brian repeated the deed. "That has to be against the rules."

"There are no trees on football fields!"

"We need another player." Brian commanded. "It's two versus four now."

"Yeah, it's only us." Penny shouted. "It's not fair."

"Alright, alright, you can have Leena." Josh offered.

"What?" Leena exclaimed.

"I'll join your team." Dib announced. From the distance, they hear Zim shouting.

"Avenge me, Brian! Avenge me!"

"I'll avenge you too!" Dib shouted.

"You do your best!" Zim shouted from the blanket. Dib muttered under his breath. Zim sat upon the pattern blanket and Mary settles beside him. She sat on her legs and put her hand on the back of his head. He yelped.

"It hurts that much?" Mary asked him. He nodded. "I don't think we have anything near an ice pack."

"Then maybe I should lie down." Zim said and rested his head upon Mary's lap. Mary blushed.

"Zim," Mary stuttered. "You can't-"

"Can I, please?" Zim asked politely. Mary looked down at Zim smiling. "You look lovely from my perspective." Mary didn't refuse him anymore. She got caught and was convinced by his charm. Instead, she put her hand on his chest. Zim instantly held hers. In spite of the ache, Zim felt peaceful. The humidity was fair and warm sitting in the shade of a giant oak tree. Zim watched the branches way above him. Thick and green leaves danced each breeze like an enchanting tune. It was uplifting watching, plainly focused on the leaves shining within any uncover corner. Nothing entered his mind at all. Mary watches far the game coming to a close. Josh pitifully lost, Dib grabbed the ball Brian tossed and scored a touchdown. Mary was about to inform Zim their team won but when she looked back on him, his eyes were closed and his chest rose up and down. He fell asleep. Mary sighed knowing it as too late now, though she could just shake but didn't bother. She would enjoy any time they had together even if he was sleeping. Mary peered at his calm face demeanor. Tina ran out on the next game and sat the blanket.

"Hey, Mary!" Tina shouted. Tina startled Mary out on the vacant stare. Tina noticed her lap. "Oh, Zim fell asleep on you."

"Yeah, he just passed out on my lap." Mary admitted.

"Interesting." Tina stated showing off a sinister smile. Mary smiled but didn't match hers. "I'll keep you company. The guys will have to play pickle."

Tina wave to them to play without her and she wasn't the only one. Brian and Penny forfeited playing and sat next to farther tree together. Josh decided to play keep away between Dib with Leena. The game was drawn short because Dib caught the ball, now Leena has to be in the middle. Leena jumped each time they passed the ball over her head.

"Look at the sleepy head," Tina commented on Zim's condition. The play on word reminded Mary.

"Oh, that's right. I was meaning to ask, can you look after Slippers?"

"Your bunny?" Tina pondered. "Why?"

"I can't have the rabbit at home because of my Dad's allergies and since Zim will be gone and Gir and Minimoose living at Dib's house I thought I could have you watch him and not burden them with the pet. I'll come by ever so often and care for Slippers and pay for the food."

"Don't worry about a thing. I'll take good care of him. Does he bite?"

"No, he never bites. Not even provoked, he would have bitten Gir if he had the nerve."

"Well, that's convincing to me." Tina said, "We'll be better acquainted this summer."

"Yes, indeed." Mary said then frowned looking at Zim's face. She sighed. "I wish…"

"Huh?" Tina caught the trail. "You say something, Mary?"

"Oh nothing."

"You really, really going to miss Zim." Tina stated.

"More than anything." Mary decided to finish her sentence. "I wish we had more time or time could zoom pass us where Zim return home and is safe with us. He going away is tormenting me with a horrible aching feeling. I can't escape it either until this whole ordeal is over and done. I thought about it the night we were together, I will do my best and be strong while he's away and not let myself fall into a deep depression. I'll have to bear it and let destiny decide." Mary looked over to Tina. Her mouth was gapping open. She finally spoke.

"You guys spent the night together!?" Upon shock Mary realized what she done. She mistakenly uttered Zim and her secret. Mary shook her head to deny it but it was too late. Tina knew.

"No, no, did I say that, I mean we-" Mary's face turn red like she usually does in these situations.

"You totally did it! Picnic and a movie, yeah right, you have to tell me everything!"

"We promised each other we wouldn't tell. Sorry, my lips are sealed. I don't want to get into more trouble. And please, promise not to tell anyone else. Me and my big mouth." Mary muttered under her breath.

"Honey, you're not going to shock anyone if you told. You guys been dating awhile and let me guess, you're dying to spend one last night together, aren't you?"

"I wish I could but my Dad, if he finds out I'm with him, even now, he would be sore with me." Mary said, "I don't want to start a commotion."

"Okay, if that's what you want. You are straight laced! I couldn't do it. If I knew I wouldn't see Josh for awhile, I would break the rules and follow me heart. You're very resistant."

"Resistant…" Mary repeated and gaze upon Zim. "Wonder if it's good…"

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone but you owe me later on those juicy details." Tina said, stood up and joined the game. Mary left by herself and sleeping Zim. She brushed her fingers on his cheek. He murmured. Her heart melted once she heard him purr. She wanted him to stay like this forever, correction, wish this moment could last forever atlas it will not. He will wake up and they would have to go their separate ways, again. She was tired and fed up having to conceal her emotions away from her father and is forbidden to be with Zim, the man she loved upon his last night on Earth. Tina was wrong, she couldn't resist, and she desires to follow her heart, the temptation. The fantasy broke and new one emerges when Zim awoke. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Mary smiled to him.

"You feel better?" she asked, he held his head in discontent.

"No…" He whined. "It still aches. I thought if I fell asleep it would go away but it didn't. It hurts more."

"Awww, poor thing." Mary emphasized and kissed his forehead. Sparks flown when they gazed at each other. They were disturbed.

"Hey, finally awake you lazy bum!" Dib shouted. Zim back lash a response.

"I'm not lazy!" Zim shouted. "I suffered a head injury!"

"You bonked a tree. Get up and play."

"No thanks, I rather sit here." Zim said and grabbed Mary's hand. Dib shrugged his shoulders but Zim wasn't the only one who didn't want to play.

"It's getting dark," Leena examined the sky. "Maybe we should call it a day."

"Yeah, football is getting boring." Tina admitted she had her fill.

"I have to be home at eight." Penny butted in her curfew.

"Alright guys, the girls are tired. Let's go home." Brian commanded of the other guys, Dib and Josh. They agreed. Zim helped Mary pick up and hand the others food they can take home. Mary fanned the blanket, folded and gave to Leena. She, in return, offered them a lift since she was planning on taking Dib home and they lived around the same neighborhood. Tina then sighed realizing she had to be the chauffeur for Penny, Josh and Brian. Brian lives farther away. Dib, Zim, and Mary got into Leena's car before any compromise and Tina was stuck with her duties.

"How come I have to drive?"

"Because you have a car unless you want us to drive." Josh offered. Tina sighed.

"You are a terrible driver."

"But I got my license."

"I have mine too." Brian pointed out.

"Get in the car." Tina told the guys then waved to the Jeap. "Bye, guys, see ya tomorrow." Zim, Mary, Dib and Leena waved farewell. Leena stepped in the driver's seat, adjust her glasses and mirror, turn on the engine. In the parking lot, Leena let Tina leave first then they were on their way home. Leena suggested she should take Zim home first. Dib wanted to stay with Leena a little longer. Mary sat with Zim, her heart was dipping low. She tried to suppress the sadness but it seeped through. Zim thanked Leena for the ride and got out. Mary couldn't take it anymore. She got out of the car too. Zim stared baffled at the girl before her.

"Zim, let's spend the evening together." Mary finally said what she desired all day. Zim pondered whether they can.

"What about-"

Mary disappear his doubts with an intimate kiss. She stood on her toes to present it. Mary had her palms on back of his head when she released. Amore enamored him. He didn't question it and waved good bye to Leena and Dib. They entered his house without saying a word. Dib sighed.

"Love is infectious, no?" Dib then wrapped his arm around Leena's shoulder. Leena shrugged off his arm and laughed.

"You need to work on your pick-up lines." Leena told him.

"Would you like it better if I don't say anything?" Dib asks peeved she didn't take a shine to his comment.

"No, say something true." Leena remarked. Dib stared at her and pondered.

"You don't think I'm honest?"

"I think your hiding."

"Hiding behind what?"

"I don't know." Leena admitted. "But that's okay, I still like you. You're a good mystery novel waiting to be read."

Dib looked out the window downcast by what Leena said but she put her hand on his arm letting him know it was okay to be secretive. She genial smiled at Dib. Dib smiled a bit feeling more honest with her. Dib didn't admit or want to anything. Leena started up the car and they drove away.

Once inside, Zim dropped his backpack on the floor next to Slippers' cage. Mary went into the kitchen and checked if anyone was here. No Gir or Minimoose. She thought it was strange but Zim was used to them being gone for weeks at a time. When Mary put her book bag on the table, Zim pressed his lips upon her neck and nuzzled her. He brushed her arm with his hand. Mary turned around and held onto his shirt constricting his chest as Zim kissed her. They kissed for a long time; Mary found it hard to stand on her toes. Zim notice the times she wobbled up and down so he picked her up and sat her on the kitchen table. Zim found leverage and put his hand on her thigh. Mary felt her sense arise by Zim's affection. He pecked her so many times on her neck, she thought it could go red but Zim was careful in each kiss not to bruise. Zim kissed under her chin three times, then her throat and he kissed inside her hair line. She thought she had her passion tamed until Zim began licking behind her ear. The sensation of Zim licking her ear lobe overwhelmed, she wanted to scream. She struggled with keeping herself silent and murmured incomplete words.

"You like it, don't you?" Zim asked if what he did was satisfactory. He knew it was, he just like to hear her say it.

"I can't help it. It feels like my heart is on fire." She expressed the raging pounding in her chest. Zim smoothed his chin against hers and looked her in the eyes. She saw Zim's red eyes shown through his contacts.

"I know, I feel it. Your vibrate heart is turning me on." Zim finally admit and then hooked a finger on her shirt and unbutton the first one, then moved on the second, then the third. Zim pulled the blouse halves away and kissed inside her cleavage and the crease her left breast contained in her bra. Mary felt it if he tasted the flesh casing of her heart. It aroused and worried her; worried someone might catch them in the kitchen. She looked out the window.

"Zim," Mary uttered. Zim continued kissing her breast. "Zim, please, please, stop. What if someone sees us?"

Zim halted his kisses and said, "No one is gonna see us." Then he continued kissing her soft chest.

"What about your robots?" Mary brought up an interesting situation. Zim stopped himself and stood taller than Mary.

"I'll take you upstairs." Before she protest or could, Zim picked her up and cradled her in his arms as he made their way upstairs. She squirmed, arm locked over his neck keeping balance. Zim whispered. "I got you."

He pushed the unlocked door and went into his room. Clothes showered the floor and the sheets askew corners touch the carpet. Zim placed her on his bed lightly and stood up. From the distance, as she sat up from the bed, she watch Zim become comfortable taking off his cover then put them on the desk. He then took off his shirt. Mary studied the familiar strength of physic scalped in his Irken body. Long and slender but muscular. Zim eyed Mary's long stare and shifted his lids (if he had eyebrows, he would shift those) up and down letting her know he's well aware she's staring at him. Mary looked away and held the third button of her shirt pulling over her cleavage acting coy. Zim smiled at her attempt. He dropped the shirt on the floor and sat at her left hip. He touched her cheek, moved his fingertips in her hair when picking up her head and kissed her. Mary tasted the sweet lips of her love. She clings on as for dear life to his shoulders. Their eyes closed and blind when Zim dipped her on his bed. Compassion enriched the senses surpassing the need of sight. Mary tingles to the touch of Zim's soft skin caressing her. Brushing his cheek upon her neck kissing her chest. Fingers and palms embracing her then slip on her hips. She desired the same comfort embracing Zim gripping his scarred back feeling the depth of the lashes. Prosperity is what she did not receive. The reminder was present, stained on her lover's back. The excitement sucked her dry quickly leaving nothing but sweat. The heat was insufferable yet needed to cleanse the desires and stroke away the coming pain. Her mind dangles, rattles with the fear of never. Never again feel his touch, his eyes glow, to hear his voice, see that cocky smile Zim proud in displaying. Never to be in his company, to recognize his kind gestures, the need of his strength and most importantly, his love. Never, didn't stop Zim from launching lust clicking the front hook in her bra. The brassiere set her free senses imprisoned. Zim push up wanting to see the face of his lover, the shock was her tears. Zim ceased his actions. She didn't speak, and couldn't. Kept her eyes closed as tears stream.

"Mary?" Zim called her name. She opened her eyes, and felt the tears she did not known shed, glide down her cheek like a warm rain drops. Zim helped her sit up on his bed with him. Mary lowered her head try hiding the guilt exposing the weakness. Zim could not permit and lifted her head palm pressed upon her chin. He did not frown, did not smile. Condolence laced his face. Mary looked deep in his sympathetic eyes and spoke.

"I'm sorry," she confessed for being a basket-case, crying while they expressed love. Zim was stirred by the apology and draw near, he whispered.

"It's nothing to be sorry for," Zim dared to prove it. He held her cheek and kissed the tear in her eye. Mary's eyes closed and felt his lips touch the lashes of her left eye. Zim could care less it burn like heck, he pretended it did not faze him, pass by her cheek when he embraced her. She clings below his head. Mary's arms hung loosely around his hindquarters; tears not maintain drips on his shoulder. Expose to both kinds, Zim could not bottle his emotions. Tears poured from his eyes.

Once she cried in his arms, and this time, he was to blame.


	43. Departure

It's a Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 43: Departure

The room cave to darkness. Late summer lights cast its shadows on Zim's walls. They settle holding each other in their arms. None were committed to sexual conquest, not it was appropriate. How could they upset and emotionally drained? Stress was the demon which killed their romance and love was the weapon. Zim cuddled under his sheets with Mary not to be defeated. She nuzzled and kissed his neck appreciating the effort. He worried for her emotional state than his own.

"Mary, we should rest." Zim advised her even though he should rehabilitate. Mary sadly nodded then pressed on his pillow resting her head. Zim shuffled the sheets when he laid back and joined her. He squeezed an extra hug while they embraced. The bodies overlapping arms were uncomfortable but did not discourage. They settle with the numbing pain in order to keep in sight and company. Mary watched Zim open and close his eyes and began to feel tired. She was worn out and when he finally shut his eyes, Mary mimic and drifted into slumber to a world of her creation.

Mary looked around and saw she surrounded by Irkens. The room was spacious and attended exclusive guests dressed in formal gowns and suits. Chandelier lights hung from the ceiling, the walls were the color of apricot roses and windows dark yet twinkle neighboring stars passing. She was on a moving vessel. Mary looked at her hands and saw them to be green. She has become Irken. She saw her reflection in a window. She had huge red eyes with faint lashes. Her antennas curled and eyes proportional to her head but not to her body. She seems to have shrunk. It startled Mary seeing her new transition. She wore a pink frilly dress similar to the ladies addressing the event of tonight.

"Isn't such a lovely night for a ball?" The Irken in the yellow dress asked her friend.

"Indeed, the galaxy off yonder appears brighter than usual." The friend said. Mary gazes at the Milky Way at the observation deck.

"The ball?" Mary entered their conversation. The friends stare baffled at Mary's question like it needed to be answered.

"Yes, the ball on the Massive. Our dear Prince always has the best balls."

"Prince?"

"Yes, he's the one who invited all of us, silly. You do have an invitation?"

Mary pondered and ruffled in her dress for any pockets. The girls laughed at her.

"This must be the first party you've attended." One Irken girl said to Mary. "Don't be nervous. You are a very pretty thing, are you?"

"Yes, what lovely antennas." One Irk said. "You must get all the males' attention."

Then the trumpets cue a toot and honked a melody associating an arrival. The girls and guys perk their attention and excitement.

"Oh, there's the Prince now." The Irken girl shouted.

"Hush, Is." She warned her friend. "Don't be rude."

The Prince stepped upon the balcony and from it down the stairs to greet his guests. Upon arrival joined two tall nicely dressed noble Irkens similar and different from each walking with him. They walk with the Prince like guards. Between them, the Prince wore a golden crown hovering above his small head. Mary saw it to be Zim, the Zim Mary recognized in her mother's pictures. Short, round eye, but this time dressed fancy and decorative like an ambassador.

"I know him." Mary uttered.

"Everyone knows the Prince. He's our great ruler of the Irkens. It's his time to select his mate. That's why we're here." Is said then scoff a laugh. "No offense but girls who are absent minded as you are do not gain the hand of our Prince."

"You should go home; you look too young to treat this occasion serious like us."

Mary scowl at the girls and didn't budge when Zim marched along the path of worthy ladies he would choose to court. Prince Zim gazes and waved to the ladies passing each one, then he stopped and spots Mary hiding in the crowd. He walked up to her and smile. Mary smiled a shy grin. Zim expressed a huge grin to her smile.

"Lovely female, do you mind telling me your name?"

"My name is Mary." She introduced to the man she loves.

"Mari," Prince Zim repeated. "What a vaguely familiar name. It reminds me of beauty, kind beauty. May I have a dance with you?"

"Yes, yes you may." Mari accepted. Zim offered his hand and Mari took it leaving the mean Irken girls who ridicule. She wrapped her arms around Zim while they dance to soft music. To the moment, Mary nuzzled Zim's neck. Zim stepped away confused by the gesture.

"Mari, you dance with me like I'm not a stranger?" Zim question her act.

"It's because I love you, Zim." Mari admitted.

"You dare to speak boldly to love a stranger?" Zim questions.

"You could never be a stranger to me." Mary stated. Zim continue to dance with her.

"You are a silly optimistic girl." Zim said. "Yet, I like it. The affection you give me. It feels genuine like I can trust you." Zim stopped the motion of dancing to stare at Mari. "My, what lovely eyes."

"You look just as lovely yourself." Mari pointed out. "I'll miss you."

"Who says I'll be going anywhere." Zim said then stared deeply in her eyes. "I have chosen my mate."

Zim leaned forward and kissed her lips. Mari resumed her position of being Zim's one and only. When they released, one of the tallest guard approached Zim. He was wearing a purple long gown touching the floor as though he was floating.

"Prince Zim, may I have a word with you?" The Tallest asks of him. Prince Zim scolded him.

"I don't know why? What is there to discuss privately? This is a ball, not a place of politics."

"I will assure you it is a matter of importance." The tall Irken try to persuade him.

"Very well," Zim sighed and said to her. "I'll be right back. Wait for me."

Zim let go of Mari's hand and followed. She knew Zim wanted her to stay but her intuition told her otherwise. Without notice, Mari followed Prince Zim and the Tallest upstairs away from the other dancers. She stepped up the stairs keeping her distance. She saw both Zim and the tall Irken enter a dark room. Mari slowly walks to the right third door. The door was shut but not locked so she took a peek inside the dark room. The bright blue colored planet from the window serves as light. Inside the crack, Mari sees Prince Zim standing before his guards. The tall Irken and another dressed in the same manner, in a red gown.

"What is the meaning of this? Drag me away from a romantic evening and woman I should say."

"There are a lot of important things to worry over other than a repetitive party." The red one spoke.

"Like what?" Zim wondered of what importance.

"Like your position of power." Purple eyed stated.

"Excuse me?" Zim glared a confused but certain stare. He wasn't sure as to take it as a warning or threat. Mari kept silent behind the door not ready to interfere.

"You popularity is what we worry about. People are more interested in you because of your upbeat personality, not the sake of our race's security."

"Security?" Zim questioned then recalled an earlier assembly he had with these two. "Is this about how I decline attacking Meekrob? There is no point to start a war with a peaceful planet. They have been our allies for years."

"They have the planet we need."

"We don't need their planet." Zim stated. "We will find a way to gain wealth and make our planet better. War is not the answer in this case." Zim said then turned away, he then faced them once more for a final word. "I don't ever want to hear of this again."

"Don't worry, you won't." Purple slipped out a dagger from his sleeve and quickly stabbed Zim in the spooch. Purple pulled it out and blood spilled from his gut then Red stabbed the opening and ripped into his side. Zim stood through the entire ordeal then cripple down looking weakly in his eyes why. The crown dropped and clanked on the floor. Zim plummet curled next to his crown blood pouring from his wound. Mari stood terrified witnessing the death of her lover.

"Our Prince has fallen atlas." Red evil eyes stated staring at the dagger then smiled. "Let the battle begin."

Mary echoed a frightening scream.

"Noooooooooo!"

Mary bolted up in bed startled by the dream and her screaming. She took deep breathes and tried keeping firm or steady. She glanced around and saw Zim sleeping beside her. He was safe. It was all a dream. It surprised her she didn't wake Zim. She shook his shoulder anyways.

"Zim, Zim…Wake up!" Mary shouted. Zim opened his eyes and look up at scared Mary. She appeared shaken.

"What-What's wrong?"

"I had a bad dream." Mary told him.

"You did? What was it about?" Mary could not say. She didn't want to scare Zim before he had to leave tomorrow. Mary regretted awaking Zim but she still felt she needed to warn him.

"Please, don't ever trust your leaders, ever. Please, promise me." Mary begged him.

"You don't have to fret about it. I could never trust them."

"Don't let your guard down." Mary warned him.

"What kind of dream did you have?"

"I had a dream you were killed by them." Mary shook the words out of her mouth. Zim wrapped her shoulders in his attempt to calm her nerves and rattled state.

"Mary, I promise I won't let that happen."

"You can't promise that." Mary coldly stated. "Just be careful."

"I will, I will be careful." Zim promised her. "Calm down, it was a dream. I'm okay. Let's go to sleep. We have a long day tomorrow." Zim reminded her, but she didn't need the reminder of his absence. Zim coerced her to lay with him. Mary rested her head on Zim's shoulder. He kept awake staring at the ceiling and popped a statement.

"This wasn't such a good idea." Zim could not help to be regretful. Mary titled upward rearranging her head. "Us like this, sleeping together and miserable." Zim glanced at the clock. It was a quarter after two early today. "How are we ever going to sleep?"

Mary sensed his distress.

"I'm sorry I woke you. I thought I needed to warn you if the dream meant anything."

"It's alright, Mary. I do appreciate your company. Too bad we both feel crummy."

"How are we going to do this, how are we going to say good bye?"

"We shouldn't have to." Zim decided. "We should say, see you soon."

"See you soon?" Mary repeated. His optimism amazed her.

"I love you Mary and we shouldn't let the bad spoil the little time we have together. I want to remember the good times we shared before I leave."

"Like when we first met." Mary brought out an old relic.

"When I bumped into you, I thought I ran into a mail box because you were short. And then when I realized you were a person, I helped you pick up those stupid fliers and got to know you a little. You were nice but I didn't give you my name because I didn't think it would matter. You wouldn't like me anyways, no other human will I told myself and ran."

"I proved you wrong, didn't I?" Mary smirked. "I realized I loved you when you revealed yourself and you past to me, before that but it was ignition. It felt like I got to know the real you behind you tough exterior."

"When did you figure out what a softly I was?"

"When you told me you couldn't do it. When you had trouble completed your first Calculus assignment."

"Wow, that obvious."

"Yea, but it was cute and to be honest, I did have my suspicious of you when you slept through our study session one night."

"And had that horrible nightmare."

"Have you had a night terror since that night?"

"I have, since I saw the Tallests, I had the terror the same night. They provoked that terrible pain."

"Don't think of them before you sleep. Think of me and you'll have good dreams. Let my love help you when you're away."

"I do think of you when I'm about to sleep and when I wake." Zim admitted.

"I think of you too." Mary admitted also. They shifted facing one other and kissed. Zim held her head.

"I'm confident I won't have any nightmares tonight." Zim said, "Not with you by my side."

"Wish I had the same idea." Mary said slowly recovering from her recent scare. Zim kissed her forehead.

"You won't anymore." Zim told her. Mary snuggled in his chest and kissed it.

"Good night, Zim."

"Good night, Mary."

Zim awoke disturbed by the shake of the bed. He looked up at Mary putting on her shoes. Zim glance at the clock and saw it was five-thirty. It strikes up his curiosity.

"Mary, why are you up this early?"

Mary heard Zim. He waited an explanation. Mary sighed.

"I have to go." Mary said, "My Dad will be home at seven after working overnight I need to be home before he does and notice I wasn't there."

Mary tied her shoes and stood up.

"Is this how we are to say good bye?" Zim felt discourage she had to leave but Mary picked up his spirits.

"No, this will not," Mary leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I'll be back before you leave, I swear."

Mary stood straight and walked out his room touching his doorway.

"Wait," Zim stopped her with the word. "I can walk you home, let me get dress."

Mary turned her head to him.

"There is no need. I'll see you soon." Mary assured him and walked out the door. Zim heard her run down the stairs and out his door in a loud shut. Zim slapped his back down on the bed.

"But does that mean good bye?"

It was impossible for him to fall asleep after she left his side. He just laid there, thoughts popping wondering what will happen. Will everything go as planned? Would he be delayed? He tossed and turned throwing off covers and putting them on again indecisive which he preferred. No results, he gave up on sleep and went in his closet. He bought out his suitcase and began packing. He had this suitcase ever since a skool field trip to D.C., now he gets the chance to use it again. He found few pants, shirts, underwear and socks out of his drawers. He packed light because he wasn't taking side trips. Straight to Meekrob, that's the plan. He went to the linen closet and took two sheets, a pillowcase and folded them thin and flat on the bottom. He then added the final piece, the yearbook. He fit everything he needed in the suitcase and changed into a red T-shirt, black pants, socks and shoes. The first outfit he was planning to wear a week. He bought his suitcase downstairs and found Gir and Minimoose sleeping on the couch. It surprised him they didn't bother him last night but also assumed they were partying as always. Zim didn't wake them just yet.

He left the suitcase in the living room and went to his lab visiting Computer. Computer was well aware of this day and obliged to Zim's commands when he downloaded the Computer's program on a CD-Rom. Once the download was complete, he shut down the system. The lab became dark. Zim stumbled and arrived at the elevator. He went up in the house and in kitchen and began clearing the refrigerator. There wasn't much food so it was an easy task. He threw it away, unplugged the fridge and picked up the garbage bag from the can. He was to walk out of the house with the trash until he saw his reflection in the window. He wasn't wearing a wig and contacts. Zim left the trash bag next to the front door and went upstairs. He remembers where he left his disguise, on his desk table. He peered at it and realized this will be the last time having to wear these until he actually returns home. He won't throw them out. He put on the lenses and hair piece and continued with the house clearing. Zim went downstairs and stepped outside to complete the deed. He entered the house and left one light on next to the window discouraging burglars. The gnomes were intimidating enough but just in case. Dib and Gaz agreed they would come by often to get mail so the house wouldn't be in ruins. Zim nudged Gir and Minimoose awake, well at least Minimoose. Gir was snoring up a storm. Zim plucked the extra disguise Gir kept in the cushions. He placed them next to Gir and Minimoose followed Zim upstairs to get his suitcase. Once downstairs, Zim places the extra disguises in his suitcase and put Gir on his shoulders.

He carried the suitcase, Slippers and Gir out of the house and locked the door. He walked by the picket fence and turned around noticing the strange house. Its rural shape misplaced in the urban setting made it so unique of sea green walls, tinted windows and purple shingles. It was as if it was poorly colored and decorated by a four year old. Though the scheme was outrageous and structure inspired infamous rumors among the neighbors. Zim had sentimental feelings for this old house. He sighed at it.

"I will miss this ugly house." Zim said atlas. Minimoose sigh a squeak and they went to Dib's house. Zim moved slower than usual. He carried too much in his hands; the suitcase in one hand and the wired cage in the other. Gir hugged cozy on his chest like a young chimp. Minimoose floated by his head fascinated in his own bubbly world.

When arriving at Dib's house, he knocked first then rung the doorbell. Finally, someone came to the door. Dib pondered at Zim's presence.

"Zim, why are you here so early, it's nine." Dib informed him on the time.

"I thought I get this show on the road." Zim said being forward with him. Dib yawned while covering his mouth and let Zim in. Dib walked off from Zim yawning.

"We can go shopping soon. I'll tell Dad you're here." Dib proposed and went upstairs. Zim put both suitcase and rabbit cage to the foot of the Dib's couch then place Gir on the red square cushion. Zim unpacked Gir's outfits and set them beside him. Gir muttered strange sleeping noises. Zim sat next to the grunting robot and picked up the rabbit cage and put it on his lap. He brought the rabbit food. It was rolled creating a smaller bag he easily fit in his front zipper. He opened the cage, scooped food in the bowl and closed the cage door. Watching Slippers snack reminded Zim of his hunger. With a glancing notice and squeak from Minimoose, Zim saw Membrane enter the living room. Up and dressed, he had a coffee mug curled in his fingers.

"Good morning," Membrane said stern and cheerful. "We'll go shopping for supplies in a little while meantime would you like to join us for breakfast?"

"Sure," Zim was eager to agree. He got caught up with cleaning out his house he forgot to eat. Membrane led Zim into the kitchen. He witness Gaz was an early riser pancakes on her plate. She was texting. Gaz put down the phone and pour syrup on the pancakes. Membrane stated the obvious he made breakfast and offered Zim a stack of pancakes if it was in his taste. Zim sat at the table and said yes. Dib came downstairs and dressed ready. Dib took a seat next to Zim and Membrane made two plates with three cakes each. He places them among the boys and sat at the table drinking his coffee. Dib and Gaz fork and knifed the pancakes no problem but Zim poked them pricking the fluffy pancake with a fork. He was hungry for it yet just couldn't stomach what he had to do. Say goodbye to his family. Membrane observed the hesitant behavior.

"Anything wrong, Son?" Membrane asked Zim then kindly placed his hand on Zim's shoulder. Zim shook his head denying it.

"No, nothing." Zim muttered.

"You should eat, Zim." Membrane advised and stood up to the toaster popping. Membrane prepared an alternate breakfast. Toasted bagels and butter, less fattening and light compare to pancakes. Membrane suggested if he like anything else to eat. Zim refused and finally sliced the pancakes.

After a slow, relaxed breakfast, Dib suggest they should go to the store before it becomes busy. Zim was unsure whether they all go looking down at Gir sleeping on the couch and Minimoose floating above him.

"Someone should be here watching them." Zim insist upon. "Once Gir wakes, who knows what he'll do."

The warning was meager but they knew how major any warning can be involving Gir.

"You can't stay." Dib pointed out. "You need to come and decide what you can eat."

"I'll be driving." Membrane suddenly stated. Eyes quickly drawn on Gaz. They stared at her expecting. Gaz growled reluctant to accept.

"Fine…" she snarled, "I'll watch them." Gaz stomped and sat between the two. She crossed her arms to Dib.

"Next time, it's your turn." Gaz decided for Dib. Dib grin a squeamish smile.

"Okay, Gaz."

"We'll be back before you know it, thank you Daughter." Membrane praised her but Gaz muttered a negative response. Zim smiled.

"Thanks for watching them, Gaz." Zim expressed gratitude. Gaz said nothing and he took like she was doing him a favor. The guys left and piled into Membrane's car. Membrane pulled out of the driveway and made a right. Membrane stated all they need is at Mart-Wall. Zim dreaded those words and sank low in his seat. They were gonna shop at his old job. Zim did not refuse. He agreed it would be the place to shop and get good deals on cheap stuff. Then thought this may not be the best idea but before he could protest, they were in the parking lot. They got out of the car, walk to entrance, grabbed a cart and strolled down aisles. The canned food aisles for what Zim needed. Zim browse the selection and picked out possible choices. Canned fruit in heavy syrup not containing water. Zim found it hard to decide anything he could eat. Dib suggested many things like canned hash or deviled meats. Zim turn down each proposal.

"But it's not even real meat!" Dib proclaimed the company's hidden secret.

"How about we try something else?" Zim said and walked to the next aisle. Zim approached the idea of rice cakes and peanuts. Zim put four cans in the cart. "Ironically, one of the other foods I'm not allergic to."

"Well, okay," Dib stated then glance to the cart. "This won't be enough."

"Of course not," Membrane agreed. "We have more to collect."

Throughout the food center, Zim, Dib and Membrane discovered new products adding Zim's supplies. From juice pouches to trash bags, nothing was amiss. Almost everything they gathered in high demand except for one more thing. Zim, Membrane and Dib came to the camping section.

"Here it is." Membrane appeared upon a cot.

"Enjoy the bed you'll have during the trip." Dib mocked Zim's cot.

"It will be doable." Zim stated and helped Membrane move the supplies and fit it in the cart. Meanwhile, focus was lost of what Dib was doing until he pronounced it.

"Zim, say hello to your new best friend." Dib snickered and showed him a box of a urinal deposal cup.

"Cut it out, I'm not peeing in that." Zim decided against it but Membrane digresses.

"It could make the travel easier."

Zim rolled his eyes out of embarrassment and sided with the guys.

"Fine, put it in the cart."

Dib and Membrane shared a quiet snicker at Zim's expense and pushed the cart to the front end ready for check out. Zim peered among the items to see nothing missing. Then he saw his greatest fear. Somehow Membrane snuck on a gallon of water without his consent.

"What is THAT doing in the cart?" Zim questioned snarling at the enemy. A simple case of water.

"You need water for the engine to prevent it from overheating." Membrane explained. Zim allowed despite the harm it could inflict. They reached counter six, next in line to dump the food on the conveyer belt. Zim did experience the joy of meeting his ex-coworker cashiering their food.

"Hello, Zim," Sarah shouts delighted to see him. Zim exchange similar greeting acting interested in meeting her.

"Hey, Sarah," Zim greeted. "How are you?"

"Good," she simply stated then glided the cans over the scanner and put them in bags. Dib assisted in putting the bags in the cart. Sarah scanned a lot of food, then moved to the cot and smiled. "You guys have a lot of food."

"Yeah, we're going camping." Zim thought up a lie. Membrane and Dib looked at Zim though he didn't have to.

"Okay, but where's your tent?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, we got a camper; it's going to fly us across the universe."

Dib and Membrane double look to Zim's comment. Sarah paused for a moment then laughed. Dib elbowed Zim to get his attention.

"Zim, you feeling okay?"

"What?" Zim confused and asked. "What did I say?" Zim thought his last comment and realized his goof-up.

"I mean, across the United States." Zim corrected the error. Sarah smirked.

"I thought you meant that."

"I must be more tired than I believed." Zim muttered a mental note. "Gotta sleep later."

Sarah loaded the last bag and rang up the total. Membrane paid the cashier and they left the store. They walked into the parking lot.

"Thanks for the supplies." Zim thanked Membrane.

"Not a problem, we want you alive." Membrane said pushed the cart further than Dib and Zim walked. "Let's get this in the car."

Membrane unlocked the trunk and Zim and Dib loaded the car, shut it and sat inside. Membrane took them home, unlocked the back and they repeated the opposite process instead they put supplies in the backyard. Zim stopped for a moment to gaze upon the ship. Dib found Zim staring. Dib held on to the cot, the last item unloaded. Zim felt a presence, glance to Dib's chin and back on the ship again.

"It's comes down to this: the moment of truth. Will this ship survive the cruelty of space? Will I survive?"

"I know you will and if not, I value our friendship and sometimes…Consider you my other brother from another planet."

"I do too." Zim complied.

"Come up to my room for a second," Dib intentionally invited. Zim turned around as Dib was at doorway and in. Zim looked down at the food on the ground then heard Dib shout from the house.

"You coming or not?"

Zim followed the voice command. He spied over Gaz and Gir playing video games and went upstairs. The room was a tragic mess as usual. Clothes piled on the floor, untidy bed, walls clutter with all sorts of junk Dib found interest. Dib grant access to his closet and swoosh the door open. He manually opened the bottom drawer under his hanging closet. He shut the drawer and shown Zim why he called him up here. The ray gun he would give him.

"I want you to take this," Dib offered. Zim was profound.

"But it's yours, I can't-"

"Take it!" Dib persisted. "A man should hold a weapon he's familiar with. Trying to learn any new technologic explosives may slow you down. Bring what you know."

"Thanks," Zim said and Dib gave him the ray gun.

"Then when you return, you can give you it back to me." Dib stated the deal.

"Yeah, sure," Zim accepted the bargain, and then quickly remembered. "Oh, I brought something for you too." Zim reached into his back pocket and obtained the CD concealed in a plastic case. "It's Computer."

"What?" Dib was curious to see and moved his yearbook blocking the computer drive. Dib pushed the button on his already activate computer desktop and slipped in the CD. His computer automatically downloaded the information and the new acquired personality.

"Hey, what gives? Why is my screen smaller?" A voice called out of Dib's computer.

"You're in Dib's computer."

"What?" Computer surprised by the circumstance. "I'm living with him?"

"We talked about this before, remember?" Zim remarked their last conversation.

"I get your computer program!" Dib talks like a dream come true.

"Yeah, but don't get too comfortable having me meet your demands. I'll be back in Zim's dingy lab."

"I thought you like the company." Zim counter acts Computer's negative attitude.

"Maybe, if it was someone more interesting…Woah, there is a lot of porn in here." Computer revealed Dib's raunchy secret. Zim turn to Dib expectedly. He blushes.

"Just a few photos." Dib bashfully said and rubbed his neck.

"One hundred and thirty-two photo files and two video." Computer spoke. "You're one horny human. Scanning those files made me feel like I was brought through an orgy. I'm telling you now, you are not imitating procreation with me in here. Consider this deleted."

"Okay…" Zim not sure if he should object.

"No, not again!' Dib cried out but gave up easily. He didn't like the idea of Computer watching him either.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pack…" Zim said slowly leaving his room. Dib took the opportunity of leaving also.

"Take me with you," Dib whispered. "I'm not safe in my room anymore," Dib soon grasp who was at fault. "Thanks to you."

Zim rolled his eyes and walked downstairs. Dib followed and Zim revealed an explanation. "Computer will help you more than any item during an invasion. With the download comes a complete map of my home galaxy and all Irken Intel you could need. For safe measures, mind you."

"The Swollen Eyeball agency phase is good and dead." Dib dashed the paranormal cult past. Zim hid the ray gun behind his back and out of sight when in the living room. Gaz and Gir were still at it. Gaz was losing to Gir's superior game play.

"I'm gonna beat you, Gir!" Gaz shouted. "Mark my words!"

"This is fun!" Gir oblivious to Gaz's threat.

Zim ducked and sneaked with his suitcase. Both boys enter the backyard. They continue where they left off and packed. They kept all the canned, bagged and boxed supplies in two neat piles strapped to the wall. The cot was left on the floor because it was too heavy and not so cumbersome to move around during lift off. Zim put in and packed three final things in his suitcase, the ray gun, wig and contacts. Zim packs his persona to carry another, his true identity. Zim left it in the ship and stepped out.

"That's it, now we wait 'til dusk." Zim stated the agenda. Zim yawn after saying thus.

"You should rest." Dib advices. "There's time for a nap."

"I think if I sit down and relax, I should be fine." Zim allowed rest. He entered into the house with Dib and went to the living room. He sat by Gir and Minimoose while Dib sat in a nearby arm chair. Zim listen the annoying shrills of excitement but didn't affect his current state. He was tired and couldn't help drifting closing his eyes frequently. He laid his arm on its arm and places his head upon it. 'Why is it always this couch I feel the sleepiest…' Zim thought and finally closed his eyes.

* * *

"Don't do that!"

Zim heard something out of his conscience; he opened his eyes to a flash. He saw a phone pointed lens to his face. Zim jerked up realizing someone took his picture. He discovered the perpetrator. Jack Hollonder AKA Dark Booty. Zim hissed at the man.

"Delete that immediately!" Zim demanded. Jack simply smiles and touched the screen.

"Thought you appreciate the irony." Jack vaguely explained why he did it though it wasn't a very good reason.

"Told you he wouldn't think it's funny." Dib scolded Jack like a disagreeing ten year old.

"Don't ruin an old man's fun." Jack said, "It's all we have."

"It's true," said another man sitting in an armchair behind Jack. It was Greg. He sat contributing to the conversation. "Once you hit seventy, looks and career are thrown out the window. You call it quits and retire, that's what I'm gonna do."

"I knew a man who worked until he was ninety-five." Jack offered insight.

"Sure, if he wants and still healthy." Greg agreed upon for instance. Zim stretched his arms and glance at Dib.

"How long was I out?" Zim asked him. Dib glance at the phone time.

"It's six, past six now." Dib stated. It surprised Zim.

"That long I've been asleep and you let me."

"Heh, you got couch impressions on your face." Dib smiles ignoring his outburst.

"Dib!" Zim not impressed created a louder response.

"What? Would you prefer flying sleep deprived?" Dib took offense to Zim's sudden snap.

"No, no I do not." Zim retracted his complains. "Thanks."

"Mmm hmm." Dib boasted a mumble.

"So, who else is here?"

"Greg, Jack…" Dib counted by memory then motion to the end of the house. "And Brian. He's outback checking the ship like my inspections weren't efficient."

"I just arrived then I saw you sleeping, and I couldn't resist." Jack explained and showed Zim and Dib the picture. "I guess old habits die hard."

"I thought I told you to delete that." Zim gritted his teeth. Jack deleted it in a push of a button.

"Where's Gir?" Zim looked around for the eccentric robot.

"My Dad's picking his brain."

"Eh, what?" Zim shouted thinking he misheard.

"He's scanning Gir's mind," he rephrased, "Dad's having a look at his mainframe seeing if he can improve Gir's intelligence."

"Oh, and what about Minimoose?" Zim suspicious of what if any changes Membrane would do with the moose.

"Nothing, he's floating behind you." Just as Dib mention, Minimoose lingered from the ceiling to Zim's eye level. Zim cocked an estrange stare and Minimoose squeaked.

"Hey, you." Zim really said unexpected.

"Nya!" Minimoose repeated. Zim turned his attention to the men in the living room.

"Any-who, whatcha' guys up to?"

"Chatting, nothing too formal." Greg stated. "Hey, got anything to eat around here?"

"Well, there's lunch meat in the fridge. You can make sandwiches."

"Don't mind if I do." Greg stood up and went straight to the kitchen. Jack followed.

"I need a little snack." He shuffled to the kitchen. To themselves, Zim and Dib glance at each other and shrugged shoulders.

"Want to check on Brian?"

"Okay," Zim agreed and both left out the living room to the backyard. Brian wiped his hands on a tattered rag peering inside the engine. He shifted sights on Zim and Dib.

"It's set for lift-off." Brian stated then locked the hatch.

"It has been ready for lift-off after I checked it." Dib insisted. Brian huffed blowing the bangs from his eyes and push back his hair.

"Sure, if you want the carburetor to rust and engine catching on fire." Brian said, "You forgot to screw on the water coolant cap."

"Just a minor mistake." Dib ashamed to say.

"Sure minor and can cost you." Brian said. "You are so lucky I grew up on a farm."

"Yes and future comrades in the force will thank you too."

Brian saluted Zim and passed them.

"I heard talk of snack time. Gonna get something before nothing's left." Brian descended into the house. They stared at each one.

"So, everything's ready?" Zim asks.

"Just as ready as Dad will be when I tell him we have to go shopping, again."

"Alright then, to the house." Zim announced. They both entered and saw Greg, Jack and Brian snacking on few or more sandwiches and soda cans. Dib and Zim pass and went into the living room. They were not very hungry. There, sat Mary petting Slippers. She smiled noticing them.

"Mary," Zim said from shock. Mary kept her promise. She did show up.

"Hi, guys." Mary said, "I let myself in. Hope you don't mind."

"It-"

"Not at all." Zim interrupted Dib and directly sat next to Mary on the sofa. Dib rolled his eyes and left upstairs unknowing. He had to use the bathroom. "I thought you wouldn't come." Zim said exposing his fear.

"Why would I not?" Mary asks. Zim lifted his worried expression and smiled glad she was here. "My Dad's in his lab so I left a note. Once he reads I'm here, he'll know."

"Is that why you wait until late?"

"Yes," Mary said then patted flat Slippers' ears. "Is everyone here? It's almost sundown."

"Not everyone. Tina and Josh have not arrived. They will soon but I'm not positive. They have no reason not to show."

"Then we shall wait." Mary said and locked arms with Zim. Mary put her head on his arm and they sat quiet watching the bunny hop and explore upon and away their laps. Time pass slower than a snail. Eventually it occurred; a knock on the door and an open greeting.

"Sorry we're late!" shouted Tina opening the door. Tina notices Zim and Mary while Josh enters the house too. Tina instantly saw the bunny she was tending to. She knelt before Slippers and offered her hand.

"Hello, little guy." She introduced. "I'm Tina."

Slippers sniffed her hand and immediately hopped off snuffing it like garbage.

"Well!" Tina said offended. Mary chuckled.

"He will warm up to you."

"He better, I'm the feeder now." Tina playfully warned the little fellow. Slippers was unresponsive because he couldn't talk. "Hey Zim, you got a sec?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Come to my car." Tina stood up and went to the door. Zim stood out of his seat. Josh smiled as he followed Tina out the door. He turns to say.

"You're going to love this."

Mary put Slippers in the cage and went outside with Zim. They stood before Tina's trunk as she lifted the top. There laid a new boom box CD player. The small player was pack between two cardboard fringes to each speaker.

"I couldn't put in a FM radio so we bought you a stereo," Josh said, "but don't try to use the radio. It may interfere with the navigation system."

"We bought bunch of CDs." Tina said and picked up the plastic bag revealing inside choices. "I have Hybrid Theory, The Dark Side of the Moon, No Need to Argue and even Aurora."

Zim slightly blushed.

"I've already had her CD." Zim admitted.

"We bought another in case you lost yours."

"Aurora Davis was the first CD Gir gulped." Zim picked up the CD and filled with nostalgic memories of listening to Aurora Davis inside on rainy days. He returned from the flash back.

"Tina picked out sissy, touchy feeling music. I got you hardcore metal scream bands like Breakfast and the Disease, Iron Tallica, and old classics such as Magica and Twisted Myth."

Zim peered through the plastic stack. If he had to guess, he'd say they were twelve more selections. He smiled humble by the entertainment offering. Also, the thought they consider his boredom. It bewilders him to be sappy.

"Thanks, it means a lot. I appreciate this. I appreciate all you done for me."

"Of course," Tina said happy as she can. "That's what friends are for. We celebrate the good and help through the bad." Tina, teary of what she said, embraced Zim. He welcomed it. Josh glance and shift from the gesture. Mary didn't mind one bit. She understands what she felt. Her best friend too, was going away. Tina pushed off and gripped on Zim's arms like her attempt of steadying the grief. She looked him straight.

"I'm sorry." She sternly apologized for timely behavior.

"Don't be. I'll miss you too, Tina." Zim admitted and motion to his geeky friend. "And Josh."

"Certainly include me in your people I'll remember the most speech." Josh lightly joked. He wasn't very good at dealing with situations where an alien friend goes conquer another planet planning in returning. This was the first alien going away party he'd ever attend.

"Okay," Tina sniffed maintaining some control. "I'll be alright. Let's get this in the ship."

Zim nodded not wanting to pick at the scab and helped grab the CD player out of the trunk. Josh carried the CDs. Zim commented on the amount.

"It must have cost a fortune buying all these." Zim stated.

"Nah, 2.99 each." Josh said then past him letting Zim contemplate the depleting value of music.

"Really?" Zim shouted disbelieved. Mary and Tina coax him to come in and get to the ship. Dib was sitting with Brian chatting irrelevant things like patterns in cloud and weather predictions. Zim only caught the end of the conversation. Dib saw the completion of the gang.

"So everyone's here." Dib stated looking at each one. Mary, Zim, Brian, Tina and Josh follow the same eye coordination like a choreographed song and dance. The night was near and showers a dark blue rim of the setting sun. Suns are always setting Zim always noticed whenever he was brought into these sad moments. Dib stood up. "I'll get Dad and Gaz. Gir should be with him."

Minimoose floated sneaking behind Zim. Dib stepped aside and marched in the kitchen. Zim did not fumble when he entered the ship bringing the extras. Zim looked around for the right place to stash the player and CD collection. Upon discovering, Zim noticed something what looked like a deflated balloon on the floor. Zim put down the CD player for the moment and picked up the light gray strange thing. It was heavier than he imagined. He held it up and saw it to be a suit. Zim still puzzled of its purpose; he questioned what exactly it is.

"What is this?" Zim blankly asked any of his friends. A person responsible for the mystery came peaking through the latch way.

"It's an old astronaut suit." Jack stated. They stared at the presence of explanation. "I found it in my basement and patched up a hole. I thought could be useful when exploring that planet you might destroy or whatever you decide."

"Uh…Thanks." Zim said.

"You bet," Jack replied, climbed out of the ship and continued talking with Greg outside the fence gate.

"It could be handy." Brian flipped on the bright side to whatever Jack gave him. "Could work."

Dusk is approaching the horizon. Zim displaced it as the enemy animate he can currently blame. The time in which he must leave everything for a long shot is up. Zim waited holding hands with Mary. Not much was to be said while waiting for his family. Atlas, the long minutes sped up when Membrane, Gir, Gaz and Dib came outside. Gir saw Zim and immediately ran to him.

"Zim! Zim!" Gir shouted in his excitement. "I know what a rectangle is."

"Oh, good job." Zim encouraged Gir. Zim knelt to the robot dressed like a little doogie. He patted Gir's head and fit the dog mask stalling time in exposing a horrific truth. Gir swatted the attempts and put the heavy dog hood down.

"I'm done playing with Science Man. Can we go home and bake tacos?"

"No, I have to go." Minimoose was aware of the serious tone in Zim's voice when directing Gir. Minimoose hovered low along Zim's left joining the huddle.

"No tacos…" Gir whimpered.

"You can make tacos with Dib and Gaz, but I'm leaving to Meekrob." Zim cleared his throat and misunderstanding.

"Do you have to now?"

"I'm afraid so, I must." Zim did not negotiate. Gir didn't argue out of it. Gir knew it was time. He clutched both Zim's cheeks, pecked his forehead and released him. Zim recovered from the painful bonk in the head.

"I'll miss you." Gir said.

"I'll miss you too." Zim said then each hand on Gir and Minimoose's head. Back lights switch on automatically distracted Zim for a second. He turns to Minimoose discovering the silly grin disappears. Zim smiled letting Minimoose know not to agonize. "I'll be back before you know it. Be on your best behavior when I'm away." Zim addressed both. Minimoose squeak rubbed Zim's cheek, the best hug he can give while Gir gave Zim another one. Zim stood up embracing Gir.

"Don't worry. We'll take good care of them." Membrane promised. Zim nodded while Membrane outreach open arms. Zim put Gir in his hands.

"Thank you for allowing me into your home and part of your family." Zim solemnly said.

"You still are," Membrane stated. "You will always be my adopted alien son."

"And through the years you grown to be like a father, heck you are. You took on the challenge and raised me. I commemorate and have great respect for you. Thank you." Zim peered into his goggles and saw a little tear. He plucked a heart string of his role model but Membrane acted collected and smiled wide behind the high collar lab coat.

"Oh, now, you were no trouble," Membrane was bashful and moves on to parental concerns. "Take care of yourself. I, well, I mean we want to hear your adventure and again don't worry about your robots. This will be getting an upgrade, right Gir?"

"Pickles!" Gir peeped.

"I'll fix that." Membrane said. Zim smiled knowing they were in capable hands. Then he glances to Dib silent of any opinion.

"Dib, we may have had our disagreements but I always thought of you a friend when we were enemies. A mighty foe worthy of my intelligence." Zim confessed. "I never admitted due to foolish pride."

Dib, speechless and emotional, reached out and hugged his best friend. It embarrassed Zim, he hugging him. He didn't squirm out of it either.

"Dib, what about your manhood?" Zim tried to poke fun at Dib one last time.

"Forget my manhood if I can't say good bye to my best friend." Dib said then let go of him. Dib knocked him on the shoulder. "Show them no mercy and be a better Invader then you were."

"I'll be an arrogant bastard." Zim promised Dib. "To MY Tallests, of course."

They smiled and Zim force a glance at Gaz. She scowls like it was unimportant.

"What?" Gaz shouted at Zim.

"Nothing, just be good." Zim told her.

"You be smart and watch your ass." Gaz flat out warned him.

"Thanks for the advice. You really do care."

"Don't read too much into it." Gaz said sneaking a smile and quickly dissolved it. Zim grin stayed present when he moved his attention to the men standing by the gate. Zim walked and offered a handshake to Greg first. Greg happily shook it.

"Thanks for your help, Greg. I really appreciate it."

"And I appreciate your business throughout the years and the chance to be trusted with this secret and yours. You're a good kid. Come back soon and let me know what happens."

"Will do." Zim said then out reach his hand to Jack. He shook his too. "And of course, thank you for your contributions."

"Anything for the good of humanity. And like Greg, I'll be waiting to hear from you too." Jack replied. Zim nodded to the former agent and went to his friends, Josh, Tina and Brian standing near the ship. Mary stood at left wing fin while Zim greeted them at the latch. Tina squealed, ran up and hugged him crying.

"Tina calm down," Josh tried to control her. "He's coming back. It's not like he'll be gone forever."

"I know but-" Tina squeaked between cries. "He's our hero…"

"Tina," Zim console her taking both hands. He stared at the blubbering girl and said. "I'll be fine, just have a great summer." Tina screamed a sob, turns around and cried on Josh's shoulder.

"He's so modest!" Tina sobbed. Josh rubbed her arm and look to Zim. "Good luck to you, Zim." Josh said. "May it be on your side."

"Thanks Josh and Tina." Zim said. Brian took his hand and shook it.

"Take care my friend and come back soon." Brian was brief in the farewell. Zim nodded and glance to everyone.

"I'm thankful to have friends like you." Zim said. Tina squealed louder while Josh and Brian smiled.

"We're thankful too." Josh said. "Be safe." Zim turned away to Mary. The last he say farewell. He clutched her hands when meeting her then move close for an embrace.

"You're so strong smiling saying goodbye. I want to be like you. I'll be strong, I promise you." Mary whispered then stood before Zim after they hugged.

"I know you will." Zim said smiled genial. "I love you."

"I love you too." Mary said looking in his big beady eyes.

"Ahhhhhhh!"

They heard a muffled guttural scream coming from an odd direction. Behind Greg and Jack, they turned around and moved. They saw one uninvited guest. Prof. Weylin. He stood there shocked out of his gourd. His body shook most significance his knees supplied the trembling.

"What- what- what is this?" Weylin manage to stutter. Everyone was speechless unwilling to explain anything. Tina stopped crying compelled in the twist of events. Mary stood unsure herself unable to make a word or move a muscle. Zim didn't blink when staring at Weylin. He saw the whites of his eyes clearly in the dark and shaking jaw. The frighten expression. Weylin had no idea who he was. This was Zim's greatest fear realized. Zim spoke:

"Weylin, it's me Zim."

"Zim!" Weylin shouted recognizing him. Zim stepped slow to him. Weylin stepped back.

"What are you?" Weylin asked.

"I'm an alien from the planet Irk who has been living as a human for seven years."

"You're- you're real?"

"Yes." Zim confirmed his existence. They stood before each other examining their difference. The shock Weylin suffered changes. Grimace written over his face and for the second he shown it, he swung his fist. Greg and Jack rushed on the explosion. Chaos broke loose like a hyena among antelope. Weylin missed and swung again almost brushing Zim's chin. Mary begged for her father to stop but before she could come, Jack and Greg restrained the mad man. He struggled from breaking the grip.

"Don't- Be easy on him." Zim told the guys. He wasn't upset Weylin aimed to knock him out. He expected this much resentment.

"Weylin, I'm sorry, I should have said something sooner. I couldn't bring it up." Zim piled excuse after excuse. Any explicable reason why he could ease Weylin but through it, Zim heard distasteful muttering which came louder each word.

"Monster! Disgusting creature! Fucking ugly thing! How dare you touch my daughter! How dare you come into my house, into my life! How dare you influence my daughter! Vile scheming demon! Son of a serpent bitch!"

All was silent through Weylin's invective rant. Dib wanted to shut him up but Membrane stopped Dib from doing so. He was angry of what Weylin was calling Zim but knew it wasn't the solution. Zim had no clue what to do. He was stuck in the middle between his mission and quarrel. Zim stood and took the insults because he felt he deserved it. Jack broke the attention off Weylin.

"Zim!"

Zim glance to Jack's face while struggling to keep hold of Weylin.

"You need to go."

"But I-" Zim felt a hand on his shoulder. He looks at it and saw Mary. She put her hand in his and whispered.

"Jack's right. You have to go."

Zim turned his back on Weylin and walked with Mary. Weylin saw them walk hand in hand and assumed the worst. His struggling became more violent. He screamed.

"What are you doing with my daughter? Why are you holding me?" Weylin directed to his restrictions. "He's the enemy! Why are you holding me back from HIM?"

"You're the enemy swinging around like a crazy fool." Greg told him. "You need to cool it!"

"He has my daughter! Stay away from her!" Weylin kept screaming. Finding it hopeless negotiating with his captives. Forces as in Membrane, Gaz, Dib, Brian, Josh and Tina besiege a way of escaping acting as Zim's shield, Weylin's wall. Weylin watched helplessly when Mary stood with Zim at the latch.

"Mary! Come back! Stay away from him! Don't go! I beg of you, don't go with him! Please don't leave me! Mary! Come back! Don't take her! She's all I got!"

Mary kept her eyes on her father and his irrational begging. Zim could hear him too.

"I don't want to leave you in this position." Zim said looking at her. Mary looked up to him, sad and sure there was nothing he could do.

"It's alright." Mary said touched his cheek. "He will settle down."

"I guess it would be inappropriate to kiss you." Zim said. Mary stood on her toes and kissed him. She relinquished and stares up at him.

"Go get 'em, Invader Zim." Mary encourage. Zim went in the space ship without saying goodbye and it was the way they wanted. As he entered the cockpit, through the windshield, he saw Weylin's glare. Staring Zim down like he was cursing his death wish. Zim didn't react and disengaged. He started the ignition, pumped the throttle, switch on bottom boosters. Mary ran out from under the ship when the rockets boosts. Retracted the shock absorbers and put into drive; all eyes were on Zim as he lifted great speed, shot into the air. The force quivered beneath them. In seconds, he was gone streaming straight up.

Zim's ship shook when he forced out of Earth's atmosphere. It scared him the way the control board shook waking it difficult to watch the gauges but he pressed through. He then broke out into space. Zim glimpse behind at Earth. The planet turns to a tiny spec as he flew away.

The exhaust fumes fade over Dib's backyard. Awestruck by the moment, it loosens Jack and Greg defenses.

"Get off me!" Weylin pulled his arm out of Jack's. "Your precious thing is gone. I can't hurt him." Weylin marched into Membrane's house. Mary ran after aiding her father.

"Dad!" Mary shouted. "Wait! Dad! What are you doing?"

Everyone followed the unpredictable man to the kitchen. Weylin trembled picking a glass. He turn the faucet knob, watch the water trickle into the cup. Weylin's unsteady hand could not bring himself to drink it. He glared at the glass realizing no comfort can achieve with minor healing. The memories were furious through his mind. He threw the glass in the sink. The crash shattered it startling Mary and leaving no comment.

"Come in our house and break the glasses." Gaz sarcastic suggested. "Be our guest."

Weylin strike a nasty glare almost enough to make Gaz shudder. Gaz decided to shut up. Membrane faced Weylin.

"Calm down, Weylin." Membrane said and places his hand on his arm. Weylin tugged from it.

"Don't touch me!"

"Okay," Membrane backed off and raised his arms in the air as though he was surrendering. Weylin glance at Mary like a viper and went into the living room. Mary chased him.

"Dad, please, let me explain."

"What are you doing with him?" Weylin strike back no mercy. No indication he was recovering. "Why did you stay with him when I was calling you? What were you thinking?"

Mary stood unresponsive.

"Answer me!" Weylin insisted from his daughter. One reason came to mind, the only reason.

"Because I love him." Mary sternly said.

"How long did you know?" Weylin asked. "About-being that?"

"Since we dated."

"And you couldn't tell me?"

"It wasn't my choice." Mary said then stutter, "You, you don't know the truth."

"I certainly don't know!" Weylin agreed. "How much do I know? How much are you hiding? Been deceiving me! Did you sleep with him?"

Mary looked away from the judgment. Weylin knew the answer and shook his head.

"No, I can't take it! It's too much! I have to go." Weylin decided then went to the door.

"Dad, wait-"

"You like to sneak off? Well, let me beat you to the chase!" Weylin said. "Stay away from me and…Don't come back."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Membrane interfered but Weylin slammed the door. Membrane turns to distraught Mary crushed by her father's words. "I'll talk to him."

"I'm coming too, Dad." Dib offered sorting the situation. They opened the door and caught him before he touch the car door handle.

"Weylin, hold up!" Membrane addressed.

"You can't leave her and tell her she can't come home because she slept with Zim!" Dib confronted Weylin. "So what? It doesn't matter. They love each other. You can't dismiss her because she loves him. It's ignorant and prejudice! You have to be better than that!"

"My Son's right. Please listen to us."

"Why should I listen to you? You're just as guilty." Weylin said then explained. "I worked with you for years. You knew my wife divorced me to follow her insane alien obsession. And when the opportunity presented itself again, you let it happen. I guess you were laughing behind my back."

"I would never laugh at you!"

"You let it happen! You let it happen, knowing my daughter was dating your so called 'son'. How could you do this? How could you not tell me for all I done for you?"

"I was protecting my son." Membrane said, "Like you should be protecting your daughter."

"What can I protect her from?" Weylin said, "The devil itself came playing, toying with me. I must be cursed to be put through the same torment."

"You must be stupid." Dib shouted. "You're not considering Mary's feelings at all. You're not even listening to Mary or anyone." Dib told him but Weylin proceed to his car.

"You don't know what you're doing." Membrane said. Weylin got into his car rolled down the window.

"I know exactly what I'm doing."

"Do you?" Membrane said and boldly went there. "You're breaking your daughter's heart."

"She broke mine first." Weylin uttered bitter. He stacks the key in the ignition, off of park and drove. The conversation was over. Membrane stared at him leaving the neighborhood, and then sighed. He turns to Dib who look at him for guidance. What were they to do now? Membrane conspire a plan.

"We'll have Mary stay here tonight." Membrane said, "He should come to his senses soon."

"What if he doesn't?" Dib expressed worry.

"He will. He's a good man, a little stubborn and frightened but a good man. He wouldn't abandon his daughter."

"I hope you're right." Dib said.

"Me too, for her sake." Membrane said. "Come on, let's try to make best of the situation."

Dib nodded and they went in the house. Mary sat with Tina. Tina hugged her. Dib heard a little mewl from Mary. A silent whimper she cried. Membrane spoke to her sweetly.

"Dear," she looked up at Membrane. "You can't stay here. We'll straighten everything in the morning."

"Thank you," Mary manages to speak.

"This is bullshit!" Josh shouted. "How can any father do that? Leave Mary here because she dated Zim! That man's messed up!"

"Josh!" Tina snapped at him. "That's enough excitement for one night, don't you think?"

"It just bugs me." Josh muttered.

"Thanks for your concern, Josh, Tina, everyone." Mary addressed them. "But can I be alone?"

"Of course." Membrane allowed.

Tina hugged her tighter.

"I don't want to leave you alone after what has happened."

"I'll be fine, Tina." Mary said. "I, I gotta rest, and think about things."

"Alright," Tina said, "And I'll do my best with Slippers. I will call you later, okay?"

"Okay," Mary accepted her sympathy. They quickly left the way they came showing great empathy for the girl and asking if there was anything anyone could do. Mary shook her head and said nothing can be done for now. Greg and Jack offered their assistance while shaking Membrane's hand and thanking his hospitality. Membrane expressed gratitude for their help and said he'll keep them in mind. Lastly, were for her friends, Tina, Josh and Brian. Dib stood beyond with them on the outside porch.

"She's going to be okay, right?" Tina asked of Dib.

"She will be fine here tonight. Like my father said, this dispute should be given time before we can move forward." Dib said, "Everyone should go home. I'll let you know if anything occurs."

They accepted Dib's explanation and left for the night. Dib glance around the room.

"Where's Gir and Minimoose?" Dib asked his father.

"I don't know, Son." Membrane was clueless of their whereabouts.

"I saw them run in your room, Dib." Gaz offered info.

"What?" Dib gasp. "And you didn't stop them?"

"It's your turn, remember?"

Dib ran upstairs without a second thought. Membrane didn't forget about the troubled girl spending the night.

"How are you, Mary? Are you hungry?" Membrane asked she didn't look up but responded.

"No, just tired."

"I'll get you a blanket." Membrane said and return with a blanket and pillow. He placed it beside her. "Try to get some sleep. We'll solve this in the morning so don't worry."

Membrane left the lights on and went upstairs. He could hear havoc loose in Dib's bedroom and aimed to resolve the commotion.

Mary could not sleep, how could she? She sat there one question popping in her head one million times. Was this her fault for not being honest with her father? He had the right to know but she couldn't. Everyone thought he was the bad guy, and in this instance he could be but who creates a monster? She did and hurt him with deceit. She knew his feelings about the unknown, his xenophobia yet continues to keep him in the dark. Unfair as she has been treated. Morning came with effect. Restless and brimming of what she must do, she crept up to Dib's room. She knocked on the door.

"Dib," she whispered, Mary did not pronounce or want to address her leaving. She was about to then heard the door creak.

"Mary," Dib called. He was dressed in a big white T-shirt and striped pajamas bottoms. Descent than usual since Gir and Minimoose decided to crash in his room. "What's up?" He moaned when he spoke.

"Uh, I'm letting you know, I'm going home by myself."

"You can't be serious." Dib said, then looked outside and glance at his clock. "This early?"

"I have to go and do it, face my father and clear up misconceptions. The ache I caused and pay for my dishonesty."

"You were protecting Zim's identity like we all did. You shouldn't have to be the only one."

"It doesn't matter. I have to make things right."

"You don't have to face this alone." Dib offered help.

"No, I must."

"Well, I can't stop you or my Dad either. You're free to go whenever you please but if things don't turn for the better, you can always come back here."

"Thank you, Dib." Mary said, "Now I see why Zim can always rely on you. Excuse me."

Mary turned away, went downstairs and out the door. Dib stood in his doorway crossing his arms staring at the wall contemplating the mess.

"Jeez…."

Mary walked home from Dib's house without delay. She was scared of rejection yet most of all she was worried for her father. She got there quickly as she could, ran half way through the neighborhood and reached her door. She turn the knob, it was unlocked and nudge the door open. She peaked inside and called for her father.

"Dad!" Mary widens the door. She notices the living room was intact so it was a good sign but had no idea where her father was. Upon further inspection, she found him the kitchen slouch over the table sleeping. His head covered by arms and in front of him half of bottle of whiskey and a shot glass. She lowered over his shoulder and shook him. He eventually awoke. Glassy eyes, Mary saw in his father barely focus gaze when looking over his shoulder to her.

"Yoa…" He muttered.

"It's me, Mary." Mary reminded her father the present. He stared up at his daughter, and then tears from single too many pour out. He grabbed his daughter's hand and cried.

"I'm…I'm so sorry." He muttered regret. "I'm sorry I abandon you."

"You did not abandon me," Mary tried to heal his guilt. "You were upset, it's okay."

"No, it's not okay." Weylin sobbed uncontrollably. "I'm no better than her." Weylin cried. Mary guessed after a night of drinking, her father's hysteria never eased. She tired and exhausted too.

"Dad, I forgive you." Mary admitted in forgiving his behavior. It was what she could give in his time of madness a hope he could be rational. "Dad, it's time to go to bed. Get some rest, please."

"Okay…" Weylin mumbled than stood up staggering in his steps. Mary kept close watching over her father. She notices he had complications and helped him up the stairs. She guided him to his room and led him in bed. He lay down and when his head hit the pillow, he passed out. Mary knew in order of having a logical conversation with him she had to wait. Mary didn't want to leave him alone, very persistent of solving the dispute. She sat in her father's chair across him where he would read. She picked a book of nature's mathematics and flipped the pages. The chair became comfortable and the combination in the uninteresting book caused her fall asleep.

"Mary,"

She heard her name and awoke to the sound of it. She sat up in the chair. Weylin sat up in bed staring at her. He held his head and complained.

"Ughh…Headache." Weylin addressed his infliction. Mary looked over at the alarm clock and notice it's afternoon past three.

"It's late," Mary said.

"We both had a rough night." Weylin commented their condition. They went silent for awhile until Mary mustered what needed to be said.

"I should have told you." Mary mutters yet so understandable. "I left it up to Zim but really I should have been responsible and told you the truth. I knew you couldn't stand aliens and hated the fantasy genre. For what it done to us but I couldn't bring myself to hate Zim which caught me in middle of a difficult choice to tell you whether you could believe it or not. Now I know which side I should have taken. I should have been honest and let you know about Zim's origins." Mary expressed horrible guilt. The turn of events arise last night.

"Mary, I forgive you. You lied and I cannot overlook it. I used to displace my anger on something I thought did not exist now it changes everything. When you were with him, I thought I was losing you just like your mother. It upset and enraged me no one was helping. I felt useless and weak like I did back then when your mother left us. I thought you were leaving me forever." Mary stood up and sat before her father on the bed spread.

"I will never leave you, even if I move away to college or get my own place. We're family, just us. I want to stick together. You're my Dad and I love you. Nothing will ever change that, not even Zim."

"I'm still mad at him for being a little sneak."

"I know and you should be. I understand but maybe if you hear me out, I can clear the confusion and help you understand why he did it and what's really going on. I'll tell you everything."

* * *

Author note: Mary is to reveal all! Will it change his hatred for Extra Terrestrials? Or will he still want to kick his ass? Probably both. But what about Zim? Can he survive space travel again reaching Meekrob? Can I stop asking you questions and start writing another chapter? You soon will find out in the next chapter of Invader Zim: It's a Wonderful Life, Yeah right (or is it?)!


	44. The Stars, The Days, The Nights

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 44: The Stars, The Days, The Nights

Dark, vast darkness surrounds the cluster of stars illuminate emptiness adding depth within the Milky Way. Each spec of starlight strike fast passing the windshield. Zim sees it as ordinary desensitized to the spectacle wander traversing his ship. It's been days traveling among the stars or is it hours? Zim kept track. He wore a digital watch, had a calendar and wrote in a journal each day. This would be his fifth entry. Five days in the wilderness, the vacuity of existence and creation.

In the seclusion, energy was zapped and exhausted. Zim did rest when setting the ship parked hovering motionless in open space but still the travel left him sluggish. He remembered feeling this way during voyage to Earth. It was six months perhaps longer and he had Gir singing over his head the whole time. He had no recollection how he survived so long. Could the hovering song and annoyance kept Zim on edge? The motivation of proving his worth kept him from losing it? Even now he found the two week journey impossible without surrendering part of his senses and sanity. At least the music kept him from going mad. He welcomed it, playing each CD and listening to their songs any symptoms preventing over indulgent stargaze which can cause him to break focus and crash if he stared at a spot too long.

During short and frequent breaks, he checks the condition of the ventilation system seeing if it needs oxygen replenished. He monitors the gas gauge and fills the tank. The fuel tank funnel was built inside the ship so he wouldn't need to land and waste time. This was very convenient favoring an easier travel. He's already filled half a tank after four days. Not bad considering the rate he traveled out of the solar system. After interior inspection, Zim worked out. He did push-ups, sit-ups, anything from keeping him unfit. He had to be stint with his diet; stricter than usual if he wanted his serried supplies lasting. After each workout he ate. The naps he had were brief. Not restful sleep and debilitated. He awoke earlier from what rest he could achieve and sat at control board. He switched on to autopilot and turned on the CD player like a daily ritual. Zim spied the navigation system screen map. He is, if he to estimate, 334 light years away from Saiph. The star and sun of Meekrob they orbit part of the Orion constellation. He sighed knowing he had ways to go and slumped in his seat. He then searches the collection and puts in one of Josh's scream band CDs, Breakfast and the Disease. He pressed play and startling screeching screams emitted through the speakers.

"Youuuuuuurrrr Deaaaaaaaadddddd AHHHHHHH!"

Zim immediately stops stereo.

"I want to live." Zim said out loud and replace the CD with something mellow. He played Darkside of the Moon. The soft drifting beats blended well with the feeling of it all. Zim picked up the journal he left on the dashboard and began writing his entry:

_June 12, 2031 Earth Central Time: 11: 53 A.M._

_It is the fifth day on my journey. Supplies, gas and oxygen is abundant and is no concern. I grow restless and tired each day I travel mostly with excitement and worry of what awaits me at Meekrob. The decision has not been explicate whether to be the problem or solution destroying Meekrob society._

_I wish I could be home. Not the home I grew up in but the one I built. I miss everyone. I miss Dib, Gaz, Gir, Minimoose, Membrane, my friends. I miss Mary. I wish she was here with me telling me everything would be okay and wake me from this nightmare. I cannot, the reality is no nightmare, it's reality. Dib was right. I love it when Mary took care of me. I felt safe and loved but I fear after her father's discovery of me it won't be there when I return. Mary, will I ever see you again?_

Zim stopped writing and paused a moment. He did not want to cry and focus on theoretical sadness or coming disaster. The disaster thoughts came arise when he notice he wrote alphabetical format. He flipped the pages and notices the tread. He wrote all the entries in English. He continued the entry.

_I have not cope meeting with my fellow Irkens. Perhaps it will keep me on track and not civilize and complete the mission efficient without dragging the ordeal. I can only hope they will let me and they act the way they usually do. Withdrawn, obedient, not distracted, and uncaring to associate me. Then I can return home be let go as a visitor, not a comrade._

Zim put down the pen and journal and picked up the yearbook also on the dashboard. Flipping through the pages, Zim would find hope and comfort seeing his friends' faces. It brought up memories when looking at Dib's picture and the times they spent hating their existence, revenge ploys and scheming. It reminded him how their friendship morphed. They grew on each other like algae on rocks. Zim and Dib were inseparable in their preteens. From skool to home going on crack case paranormal misadventures and busting each others' chops. Zim really missed Dib. Zim wondered if he was doing fine and then dismissed it.

"Of course he's fine." Zim muttered confident. "He's probably doesn't miss me much." The outburst saddens him believing it true then looked up Mary. He found the picture of their kissing embrace. Zim played over the kiss, the sensation of being with Mary that night and love they felt. He recalls the soft touch of her skin, warmth and kisses they shared. Hugs, sweet sentiments and smell of her perfume; ecstasy in these memories made him fond and happy. A light caught his eye and distracted from the daze. A light he was flying straight for. He panicked and dropped the yearbook. He pulled at the controls and remembered they were on autopilot. He switches it back quickly but it was too late. The light dispersed into a cloud of gas flying through it. The particles vanished, destroyed in the encounter. Zim pulled the brakes and exhaled heavily. He would sigh relieved but the shock was too great. He question what he hit. Was it a cloud? A forming star? Something which can cause wreckage to the ship? Zim glance at the settings. The control board was working, the windshield stable, and not inflicted with any noticeable damage. Zim count himself lucky and clicked off the brakes and accelerated. He made a note he needs to be more careful and not distracted.

He thought the navigation system was infallible but it cannot avoid gases. It wasn't programmed for that danger. Zim flew on not vacillating his destination and went onward into deep space.

* * *

Mary stares blankly at a wall. It was bright white reflected from the florescent lighting. The wall hung a diagram displaying organs inside the vigina always directed her attention with curiosity or boredom. She unattached, not wanting to be here but her father forced her to take this measure. Mary dressed in jean shorts and pink blouse out of patient wear after the gynecologist completed his examination. Mary slouched as she sat. Her father stood up instantly with the doctor. Dr. Clark went through the results he was given by his assistant about Mary's blood test. The young appealing Dr. Clark look up from the clipboard and smiled to Prof. Weylin.

"Mr. Spenter, your daughter is in excellent condition." Dr. Clark said, "Her results came out negative for HIV or AIDS, any sexually transmitted diseases and cervical cancer. She's not pregnant. There is little tearing along the lining of the vagina but that's to be expected after intercourse. Mary's perfectly healthy." Dr. Clark expressed the good news. Prof. Weylin not satisfied with results leered at the doctor. Mary glances up at her father then back to her feet dangling from the chair.

'Oh God, please don't say it.' Mary prayed in thought. Weylin addressed the doctor.

"How accurate are your tests?"

"Very accurate. 99.9%."

"So there is a .1% percent error. A probability of 1/10 chance my daughter could be infective by an unknown disease."

"That's just stretching a minor error which could not exist." Dr. Clark exclaimed. "Mary is, I assure you, healthy. Nothing's wrong with her."

Prof. Weylin pulled Mary's arm forward to the doctor. He clutches it firm but no point of losing circulation. Mary felt the strong quiver of her father's wrath transmitted from his arm.

"Do the test again. Take as much blood as you need. Analysis and take your time until it's 100% accurate there is nothing wrong with her. And if you notice anything, anything at all suspicious, I want to know about it and dealt with. Understood?"

Weylin was so serious it scared him. Mary's embarrassment arose. At that moment, she wanted to die or emotionally not here humiliated. The doctor obliged to Weylin. Dr. Clark poked the needle and drawn blood from Mary's arm. Dr. Clark took the syringe out of Mary and empties it in a vile. He tried coaxing Weylin out of his concerns but Weylin told him to do it.

"I don't care how much it cost, do it." Weylin said then turn to Mary. "Come along, Mary." They exit out the office to the waiting room. Weylin met with the secretary at the front desk and wrote a check adding the extra blood test. Dr. Clark talks to his secretary and assistant of the incident when Weylin and Mary walked out the door. Mary knew they were gossiping.

Weylin resumed the driver's seat when they went into the car. Weylin drove while Mary sat in the front passenger seat. Mary crossed her arms and leered at her father. She uttered, "You didn't have to do that."

Father said not a word. Mary continued.

"I came in for the pap smear, did the blood test, and with excellent results, you make them do it again. I'm fine, Dad. I'm healthy; I don't have any unusual symptoms."

"You don't know that. Where he comes from can carry from him to you."

"He wouldn't. We were virgins. He wore a condom for God's sake!"

"Condoms don't work all the time. Besides, how do you know he was a virgin? How do you really know? He's been lying to the skool, neighborhood even the government of his existence. Certainly he's really good at it and can con you easy."

"He wouldn't, I trust him."

"He got you to trust him to get you in bed." Weylin didn't sugar coat his assumptions then turn right at the green light.

"He didn't force me to sleep with him. I wanted to do it." Mary confessed. Weylin stopped for a red light at the four way intersection. He looked at Mary.

"Why, why did you?" He asked her daughter.

"Because I love him. The same reason why you were with Mom. I knew you loved her." Mary said. Her father turned away and was unresponsive. It seemed like the longest red light on the street. Weylin, with little effort, turn another right into the McKargos grocery store parking lot. He found a parking spot edging from the cars closer to the store. He put the car on park and turns the ignition key. When Weylin spoke, it was like he was breaking a vow of silent so deep and surreal.

"My love for your mother died the day I decided to protect you. I was aware your mother was losing it and I did nothing but watch her drift away from me. I'm not going to make the same mistake again."

"Dad, you can't because I'm not her." Mary said. Her Dad glance out the window as she confirmed it. She continued. "You can trust me and you can trust Zim. He only lied about his identity because he was scared. I told you he was banished and had nowhere to go. Now he's protecting Earth, all us from being destroyed by his people."

"Likely story." Weylin said as he got out of the car and slammed the door. Mary popped out and shut the door too.

"Not a story," Mary continued and walked with her father to the entrance. "I was there when it happened, when his leaders popped on screen and threaten our safety if he didn't cave in their demands."

"Their demands of conquering a helpless planet," Weylin recited what he already knows. "Is he gonna do it?"

"I don't know." Mary said unsure then stopped at the sliding door. Weylin stepped in McKargos without over thinking it. He turns to her.

"Then he hasn't changed if he agrees to conquer another planet." Weylin stated and grabbed a red plastic hand basket for they were shopping light. Mary pressed on doing her best in convincing her father of Zim's merits. They stood among the fresh vegetables and fruits. Watermelons, strawberries and cantaloupes were the main sellers ripen in season.

"If you don't believe his character why don't you talk to Prof. Membrane? He wouldn't adopt Zim if he was a bad guy."

"I'm never talking to him, ever." Weylin muttered bitter and in spite. "I'm transferring out of his administration."

"That's a bit extreme." Mary exclaimed the sudden event.

"It's a bit extreme Membrane raised and called Zim his son. I can't work with someone who lied to me for all those years."

"Have you told anyone about Zim, or Mom?"

"No, the last thing I want is everyone thinking I'm crazy."

Mary looks over; there was a boy from her former English class standing at the apple stand smiling at her. She smiles too recognizing he was Vincent. He was considerably nice and friendly. Weylin notices the interaction standing between them five feet away. He stomped forward to the young man.

"You!" Weylin points out boy. "What planet are you from?"

"Huh?" The boy confused shouts out.

"Stay away from my daughter!" He warned him and dragged Mary from the grocer aisle. Prof. Weylin had a different idea for dinner. Mary decided on baking a frozen enchilada dinner sparing her anymore embarrassing moments. Mary did not pick up chatter about Zim. In fact, did not speak to check out or in the car. She fret reason she would address could spiral into his deranged thinking. Weylin had notice the silent treatment and didn't break it. There wasn't much to be said. All week Weylin listen to her defending Zim anytime the conversation mention. He knew she was sweet on him. He couldn't describe or comprehend their relationship or why it was his little girl the alien infatuated? Why her? Most important, why him? Mary carried their dinner and went to the kitchen. She followed instructions; put it on the pan and in the oven on preheated time. Curious, he wondered why she did like him. It was a brassy move but he had to know.

Mary shut the oven, spun around and caught off guard her father standing directly behind her.

"Why do you love Zim?" Weylin blurted the question. Settling was never his forte.

"Well…because…" Mary leaned on the oven handle. It was hot but no hotter than the position she's in answering this personal question. All week he never asked, Mary pondered. It's time he should know.

"I love Zim because he's caring and sweet and treats me right. I love being with him and part of his world as he's apart of mine. We share a special bond. We laugh and have fun together and it didn't matter where or who we were. We love each other. I love him for many reasons but I had to let him go. It was hard and necessary in order for him to complete his business with them, so we can be together again." Mary said, "I'm being honest and open hoping you understand why I feel strongly for him."

Mary looked into her father's eyes for acceptance but it wasn't there. He scorn at the idea and said. "All I hear you've been seduced by a serpent."

It angered Mary he still saw Zim malicious.

"Someday he will come back and prove you wrong!" Mary proclaimed.

"I hope he does," Weylin spat back. "I welcome it, then I can turn his ass in to Area 51 or whoever dealing his kind and blow his cover so he would never bother me or you, ever!"

"You wouldn't do that, would you?" Mary feared the worst of his wrath.

"I would, even if you believe he is your soul mate, other half nonsense. I should have stepped my foot on this months ago on his scrawny neck. I don't like him and you shouldn't either. He's a lying, scheming son of a bitch."

"What did he ever do to you?" Mary shouted as response. Weylin became silent and surprised by the question. "Did he ever hurt you, did he ever ridicule you or shown you disrespect? All he wanted was your respect and acceptance of him before he could give you chance to know him but you never did. That's why he hid, that's why he lied and you know what? He was right not to trust you because even if your daughter is pouring out her feelings, you dismiss it as nonsense and garbage. You want to live in a world of painted black windows and misery, fine, but don't drag me down with you." Mary said then passed her father. She saw her diary sticking out of her book bag next to the chair legs and picked it up from the kitchen floor. She took out the written journal then boldly offered it to Weylin. "My diary I'm giving you to read. It has all the details you need if you don't believe my feelings are real even an entry Zim wrote me. Read it then you'll discover who really is the bad guy."

Mary said then walked away.

"I'm not hungry. I'm going to my room. I'll accept any punishment for speaking out of terms."

Mary dismissed upstairs. Weylin let her go and flipped through the journal. He sat down; he read his daughter's introduction then the next one from Zim.

'Dear Mary's Diary,

You are one lucky notebook to inherit her stories and experience. I should know for I have come into that fortune with Mary. She the sweetest, kindest, loving girl I ever known and wouldn't change a thing. I would be honored, if I could or haven't messed things up, to be with her forever.

Yours truly, Zim'

Weylin reflected for a moment. He draws conclusions based on memory and what he read to examine Zim's character. First time they met, when dating her daughter. The apologetic and kind person Zim expressed every greeting they exchanged. Zim was there standing by his daughter when he helped her clean the study, watching movies, helping her in the kitchen. Mary never said an opposing word of Zim. He seen her acted happier and enriched the first couple of weeks they dated. Zim was attentive. He beat up the idiot who harassed her, came over early and help decorated for her birthday party. Gave her that locket he notice her wear non-stop. All he can come to was this: Was he blind, so blind to persecute and execute Zim because he was different and is an outer space being? He didn't take her on his journey though he could with the winning approval of his daughter.

Weylin sat there and read his daughter's diary. The tone of the diary changed quickly after the entry of Zim's forced mission. He could tell she was struggling emotionally in her writing. The mentioning of Zim's leaving bloomed sorrow. Weylin frowned upon his ignorance. He took a break taking the enchilada supper out of the oven then sighed. He was too hard on her without realizing the emotional drain she filtered.

Weylin left the diary on the kitchen table and went to her room. He knocked on her door. Mary looked up from the magazine she was reading. Her gaze disappeared behind the pages.

"Mary, come down for dinner." Weylin addressed but she didn't budge. Weylin sighed once more. "Mary, I didn't mean what I said."

"Then what did you mean?" Mary bluntly spat out. It was her turn to be unsympathetic.

"When we perceive someone a certain way we conclude they are true, but if the image has been compromised the trust one person built can shock and diffuse the previous relations causing doubt and conflictions." Weylin rambled indirectly answering her question. "Dads are like that, well, I'm like that. I don't like surprises or suspicious behavior. I'm overbearing and protective because you're my daughter and I love you so much. Too much I can make stupid judgments calls on people who I couldn't understand. You were right; I was the bad guy and judged Zim harshly. I just don't want you getting hurt like I did. Zim could not be as bad as I thought and I won't turn him into the authorities. I'm an angry bullshitter."

Mary laughed at him.

"At least I got a chuckle." Weylin said crossing his arms. "Now I'm gonna trust you know Zim more than I but if that boy is stranger and start quoting _War of the Worlds_ when he comes back, I will have to step in and take charge, if he's man enough to face me. I do want to speak with him. When will he return?"

"I don't know." Mary said.

"I can wait as long as you can."

"I'm very resilient."

"Okay, but let's not waste our time for dinner. It must have cooled off by now."

Mary joined her father for dinner. It was a victory and a step in the right direction.

* * *

In a neighborhood not far from theirs, Gaz glance up at the digital clock and saw it was almost dinner. She's been playing video games all morning and was hungry. Gaz was incise in gaming she skipped lunch and had a small snack. Gaz was cautious leaving her room downstairs knowing she could run into Gir. She saw the coast was clear and took her chances. Gaz went downstairs and to the kitchen without stalling. Membrane was there, coffee cup in his hand sitting at the table. He leaned over the paperwork he sorted. He appeared distressed. Gaz stepped into the kitchen.

"Is Gir here?" She asked. Membrane heard her looked up from his papers.

"Oh, Gaz," Membrane said, "No, he's out of commission while I'm uploading new programs in Gir's head improving his memory. Minimoose is keeping eye on him. I came up to start dinner. It's in the oven. Should be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Okay," Gaz said and was about to leave until Membrane sigh a huge exhale like a signal. Gaz tried to ignore it but Membrane sighed once more calling her attention.

"Alright, Dad," Gaz said giving in. "What's wrong?"

"I'm worried about Dib. He's been up on the roof since Zim left trying to find a signal from space."

"The one for the Irken mother ship, the Massive." Gaz recalled.

"Right, he's trying to find the signal connection from years ago."

"He won't. It's like fishing in a lifeless ocean. It's futile."

"That's what I told him but he won't listen. He's back to his paranormal ways all day and night on the roof. I had to tell neighbors he's doing a summer science project. If he was searching through a telescope, he would be labeled a peeping tom." Membrane sighed heavily. "Maybe I can convince him to come done for dinner."

"Eh," Gaz shrugged her shoulders didn't care either way. "Food might work."

"Can you make the salad?" Membrane asked and stood up suddenly. "I need to speak with your brother."

Membrane stomped out to the back patio. Gaz had a glimpse of father's paperwork. The resumes of potential scientist mathematicians. She rolled her eyes and opens the fridge finding the main ingredient and others preparing the side dish. Membrane look up trying to find his son. He couldn't see him but he knew he was there. Membrane saw the glow from the battery operated lantern and laptop he gave him last Christmas.

"Son!" Membrane called him. "Dib!" Membrane pronounced louder. Thumping occur and creaked closer to Membrane. Dib was spotted and he looked down on his father. He wore huge headphones over his ears, wires dangling off and passes his midsection. He crouched on the roof.

"What's up, Dad?" Dib said not expecting him.

"What's up? You are, still on the roof finding that dang transmission. Why don't you come down? I made a chicken casserole and your sister's making salad."

"Nah, I'm not hungry, I'll eat later." Dib passed up the cooked meal. Hobos would think he's crazy. Membrane stood a steady stance committed in getting him off the roof.

"Dib," he sternly spoke, "You've been up there for days."

"I've been coming down to sleep in bed, sometimes." Dib noted.

"Dib…" Membrane groaned.

"Dad, just a few more hours. I know I'm close. I just combed the Andromeda Galaxy. Maybe they're hiding in the Orion Nebula or anywhere near the Orion Belt. They could be where Meekrob is."

"Son, that's enough searching, don't you think? You're not getting anything with that equipment."

"It happened last time and I did upgrade it. I know I can."

"Okay, but even if you did what will you learn? What will it accomplish?"

"It would give us an edge in case they do invade Earth. And I thought of everything. Zim's program will record and decode Irken so we can understand their motives not misinterpreting a word."

"Dib, please come down." Membrane demanded politely. "Your monitoring behavior is terrorizing our neighbors. Had told them were doing a science project. They think you're deranged."

"I don't care what they think. You know, I thought you would be supportive. Our world may be endangered of an invasion and Zim is up there somewhere flying for his life. Do you care?"

"I do care. I fear you fall off and hurt yourself. It's in Zim's ability he knows what he's doing and the Irks will be true to their agreement. You have to have faith."

"You can keep your faith. I have technology and if you excuse me, I have stars to scan." Dib move out of sight from his father. Membrane muttered under his breath disapproving. He went into the kitchen and notice Gaz's progress. She created an Italian style salad with red onions and peppers, diced tomatoes, olives and shredded cheese. Gaz mixed it in a glass bowl and place it center on the table. She rinses the cutting board and places it in the drainer. Gaz notice her father looking defeated entering the kitchen.

"I don't know what to do about your brother. He's not coming down."

"I know what." Gaz stated and dropped the knife in the sink. She didn't need it for what she had to do. Gaz grunted and passed his right. She enters the yard, put a chair next to the garage and jumped the first platform. Gaz could hear Dib talking to someone. Computer she assumed his only companion.

"Dib, you should listen to your father. Go down and eat dinner. We've been up here for days. It's boring."

"I'm letting you go on Facespace playing those stupid games."

"They're stupid and addictive to humans but being a computer, it is not a challenge. The invasion is not happening or in considering notion. Zim's not even there yet. Take a break and eat with your family."

"Nothing is wrong being cautious and aware. I just want to find that signal then I can take it easy."

Dib felt a sudden chill. It was unusual because no wind was cause or affect on this mild night. Something jerked and pulled on the nape of his neck. He screamed and struggled with the force but it got him. He recognized the cold tiny hands pressing into his skin and screamed.

"GAZ!"

Gaz tugged him off the roof and above the garage. The headphone cord snapped out of the laptop. Gaz hung him from the rail clinging on the ladder. He dangled in the air like a hooked fish a story high. She stared furiously in his eyes and growled.

"You're coming down for dinner!" Gaz told him strictly.

"Okay! Okay! Don't let go!" Dib held on his sister's arm and place his feet on the steps. Then he put his hands on the ladder and climbed down before his sister. Gaz followed the pursuit making sure he did as he's told. They both enter the kitchen. Dib sat at the table no complains, not one. Gaz sat next to him and scooped the casserole on her plate. Membrane stared his children and smiled.

"Good, let's eat." Membrane said and went to the stove. He picked up the pot. "I made instant mashed potatoes. Who want some?"

Gaz raised her hand and Membrane scooped lumps on her plate, and then put a glop on Dib's. He sat next to his son. Membrane saw him staring at his food and sighed.

"I know you're worried but it's gonna be okay. We'll be ready for any invasion."

"It's not just that. I'm worried for Zim."

"I'm worried too."

"What if he doesn't come back?" Dib expressed an awful thought.

"Let's not dwell on it." Membrane advised. "He's resourceful and stubborn. It will give him endurance to overcome anything. He will make his choice and return as soon as he can. We just have to be patient."

"Have faith." Dib said.

"Right." Membrane agreed. Dib scooped the noodle and chicken casserole on the dish, then some salad and took his time relishing in the family meal. Membrane completed his portion and cleaned his plate in the sink. "I'll be in the lab checking on Gir. The download should be complete." Membrane grabbed his paperwork and went downstairs. Dib glance to Gaz then at the empty dish presented before him. He put the dish in the sink and then snuck away from her.

"You need to stop spying." Gaz caught him before he got out door.

"I'm not spying." Dib said. Gaz shown a not convinced gaze and continued.

"Dad's having it rough. The least you can do is act normal and not be stupid."

"I'm not stupid." Dib defended his wits. He turned away and marched outside. He climbed the garage and up again the ladder. He saw the computer screen.

"Well, well, well, I thought I was forgotten." The computer spoke.

"No, I didn't forget you." Dib said and put on the headphones which hugged his neck upon his ears again. Dib plugged into the laptop. He looked up the coordinates of where the Orion constellation could be. The disk buzzed and rotated in position. Dib heard nothing but annoying static. He listens quietly then was startled by Computer.

"When can we get down?"

"Soon." Dib vaguely stated then tune into the sounds of space.

It's been an hour Dib scanned. His body beckoned him. Muscle cramping occurred sitting so long in the stance. Dib stood up and stretched gazing at the night's dark blue sky and twinkling dim stars. Dib saw the time was fifteen minutes to ten. Computer notice him stretching his arms and legs.

"We're calling it a night?" Computer buzzed. Dib usually would not at this time. He easily can stay up until two in the morning scanning signals but considered retiring from Gaz's fair warning and talk with Dad.

"Yeah," Dib said and picked up the laptop and satellite dish panel. He shut down the computer and closes the lid and carefully came down the ladder. He jumped from the garage and on the patio. He enters the kitchen overhearing Gir talking lively in the living room. Dib smiled and enter the space. Dib found who he was talking to. Leena sit with the robot as he recapitulating recent events.

"And Zim will be shortly back from Meekrob and home soon. That's why I'm here living with Dib, Gaz, and Professor Membrane. Dib and Zim have been friends for years. Dib didn't like Zim at first but once we're good and not want to destroy mankind, they became best friends."

He froze, just froze at that moment Gir told the story of their encounter. Leena haven't notice Dib's presence until she glances up. She smiled at Dib.

"Leena," Dib stuttered. "What-what are you doing here?"

Leena complex confusion.

"For the movie, remember? We are watching Shadow Man tonight, aren't we?"

He completely forgot their plans. Dib glances at his watch and squinted. He recalls the conversation and the movie started in twelve minutes.

"You are so ready." Leena joked at his appearance. Dib took a look at his outfit and quickly put down the stuff and headphones on the coffee table then halloo to Membrane.

"DAD! I'm going to the movies with Leena!"

"That's fine, long as you stay off the roof! It's okay with me!"

Leena pegged this unusual. Not as unusual as a robot telling her Zim in outer space but is listed in the top five. Dib wasn't ready to answer any questions, heck wasn't sure how or what exactly Gir told her. He just led her to the door. Leena looked back at Gir.

"I didn't know you had a robot." Leena pointed to Gir. Gir smiled wide and pronounced.

"I told you. I'm Zim's robot. Dib is my friend." Gir said creepy and climbed up Dib's arm up the shoulder.

"Jungle gym!" Gir shouted.

"Get off me!" Dib shouted.

Minimoose floated in front of Leena.

"Nya!"

"Whoa!" Leena stepped back startled by the moose presented in her face. Dib manage shaking Gir off and grabbed Leena's hand.

"Move, go, go, go!" Dib demanded Leena to follow lead. Dib slammed the door and locked it. He turned around facing Leena. She crossed her arms.

"So, what's that all about?" Leena questions Dib.

"My Dad's fixing Zim's robot for him." Dib said and smiled not too toothy avoiding suspicion.

"Where's Zim?" Leena asked more questions.

"He's off somewhere." Dib rolled his eyes to the sky and back on Leena. He marched forward. "Enough questions we have a movie to catch. Can't miss the previews."

Leena looked at her watch. Ten minutes before show time.

"Good gracious, you're right!" Leena admitted then got in her car. Dib took front seat. They drove out of Dib's parkway and out the neighborhood. Leena mainly focus on driving which gave Dib breathing time and fabricated any reason not to believe anything Gir said. He settled on the truth. Gir's crazy. That's that.

Leena made a sharp right turn in the movie theater parking lot almost entering the wrong lane. A driver stopped and honked at her. She screamed an apology and curse and drove finding a parking spot.

"She really wants to see this movie." Dib muttered a note.

Leena found the closest available spot from the movie theater and parked the Jeap. She switches off the ignition and jumped out of the car. Dib followed pursuit. They hurried their pace to the steps. Dib opened the door for Leena and both enter the building. The line was non-existent. No line at all. Leena looked up at the show time and gasped. The show time for Shadow Man was 9:15 PM. It was 10:00 PM.

"I read the show time for the wrong theater!" Leena accepted her mistake.

"We could wait for the next show time." Dib suggested. Leena shook her head.

"I promised my parents I would be home at midnight after the movie." Leena said. "There's no way I can catch the next one and I don't wanna see these kiddie movies."

"Let's do something else." Dib said.

"Like what?" Leena snapped in anticipation.

"I don't know something else." Dib had no ideas. Leena smirked and pushed the door. She run whined when leaving the movie theater in the parking lot.

"Ohhh, I really wanted to see Shadow Man."

"I'm sorry, I should have not spaced out on our date." Dib apologized.

"It's okay; it's my fault I looked up the wrong show time so we're both to blame for a ruined evening." Leena teased him. She walked to her car and deactivated the alarm before sitting on the hood. "So, what you want to do?"

"Uhmmm," Dib couldn't say. Leena patted her hood signaling Dib to sit with her. Dib climbed on the hood and sat. "How about we talk for awhile? Get something to eat maybe?"

"I had dinner." Dib blurted.

"I'm not hungry either." Leena admitted.

"So, whatcha' want to talk about other than how we're missing Shadow Man?" Dib played light on the disappointment.

"How about your alien brother?" Leena said and rose her eyebrows mimicking the shock on his face. He had no comment. Dib stared off distance at the glowing street lights and echoing of cars zooming by on the main road.

"What gave him away?" Dib said point blank in the dark. He wasn't coy or disclaiming it.

"Oh, you know," Leena lightly chuckled. "Zim's appearance was strange enough but after chatting to your little friend, I fit the pieces together. Gir told me you were on the roof trying to find a signal from the mother ship?" Leena questions more insight. "What's up with that?"

"I've been scoping galaxies finding the radio wave lengths of the Massive, Zim's leaders' mother ship. They were the ones you forced Zim to take on a final mission, help them conquer another planet. I don't know if he can do it. He failed so many times with Earth. Sure his personality and intelligence improved but how far can it get him? I wanted to come with but he told me my place was here protecting Earth if they decided to be two faced."

"I don't understand. How did Zim end up here in the first place?"

"It was years ago when I was ten he first appeared as a new student in my fourth grade class. Off the bat, I knew he was an intruder, the way he spoke, acted, he was not human. He did not reveal his motives but I caught on quickly, he was not peaceful. He intended on destroying our world. I would defeat and foil his plans any chance I get until one day, when it all changed. When overhearing a transmission from his leaders, I went to his house and was transported with him in the Massive. Then the plot unfolds finding out the mission they gave him was a sham. They wanted to rid him and they almost did with a spot on execution. I pleaded for them to stop but it caught their attention on me. I almost became their experiment until Zim actually saved me. I couldn't believe it. He saved me by grabbing my ankle and we transported down to Earth. As an act of appreciation, I offered him a deal. I help him rid of the defective Pak on his back if he agrees not to take over the Earth.

"A defective Pak?" Leena asked.

"Did I mention the Pak?" Dib asked. Leena shook her head. "Well, that's what they used to electrocuted him."

"Oh, go on."

"You don't think this crazy?"

"Just finish the story then I'll make my judgment."

"He agreed on the deal and we went to Dad for assistance. Long story short, we got the Pak off. I was doubtful Zim would try to break our truths and go back to his old ways but after the ordeal, he was different, very different. Then we became friends from childhood until high skool. It was so strange. Not being enemies we became friends. He was the first friend I ever had." Dib stared at Leena waiting for that moment, the moment to past judgment. He could not deal with the silence and jumped off the hood. Leena motion touching his shoulder but Dib didn't feel it. He walked away quickly then stopped.

"Forget what I said." Dib muttered loud and clear. "I, I made it up. We made up the scenio, yeah, Gir and I. We're both crazy."

"Dib, I believe you." Leena said. "You don't have to deny anything."

Dib turned around and took offense to the security Leena offered.

"Yes, I do. I have to otherwise I would be the fool. The fool whom against all odds ends up saving the Earth from impending doom, time and time again. No one cared for the sake of humanity and my warnings wasted on deaf ears. I had to be the lone crusader. I am the lone crusader because now the threat has rise again and it's up to me to save the day because it seems no one is helping me. Yes, I was on the roof all week. Yes, I'm going for a long shot but it's what I can do. I'm doing something. If I become a lunatic because of it, I don't care. I accept it." Dib said then muttered. "Sorry Dad, but some of us can't because the truth is I don't have faith in anyone."

"But you want it."

Dib glance on Leena.

"You want someone to believe you and you want it to be me otherwise why would you be telling me this?"

"But you wanted to know about my brother."

"As a joke." Leena cleared the air. Dib said nothing inept. He was so caught up in the tension he didn't realize she was kidding. "It seems I tumbled into a serious conversation of topic. So Zim is alien your family has hidden as one of your own, intriguing."

Leena stood up and stepped close.

"I believe you, Dib. I believe every word."

"You do? But why?" Dib had to know.

"Because you said it with such passion. I sensed something special in you and I was right. You are special."

"I am?" Dib unaware and not confident. He was literally stunned. Leena, little knowing of what's going on actually believed him and didn't call him crazy.

"Yes, excluding the lame pick up lines and cheesy moves." Leena giggled then touched his arm. "Dib, you can trust me. Have faith in me. I don't know exactly what's going on but I wanna help. Is there anything I can do?" Dib appreciated the sympathy Leena was giving him. She was serious offering her assistance.

"Talking really helped." Dib admitted. Leena grinned then reached up and place both hands on his cheeks.

"Glad I could help." Leena then and whispered. "You're not alone in this."

What Leena said calmed him and reminded him she was right. He wasn't alone. Everyone he knew personally was knowledgeable Zim was out there fighting. He forgot it when his anxiety progressed. Maybe he was acting irrational and wasting time on a pointless quest. He wanted to be the extra pair of eyes looking out for Zim but what could have he done to help Zim if he were to discover their demented motivations. Dib had to let go and deal with it when the challenge comes. He realizes he has to concentrate on what's happening now than any apocalyptic future that could never occur. What was before him is someone who really cared listening to his worries and mustered emotions on their date. He gazed in her dark hazel eyes and saw the light. He glanced off embarrassed then back on her. Leena smiled aware he's stalling.

"Sorry, I…We can go for a late dinner. I'm buying." Dib offered but Leena shook her head not disappointed in the gesture then pressed her arms around Dib and nuzzled in his chest. Simultaneous warmth surrounds him. Dib was at peace and the worries, doubts and concerns melted away. If only this moment could last forever and be with him reminding Dib everything's okay. However, looking up at the summer stars nothing can be certain until Zim comes home.


	45. Comos Disturbance: Operation Black Out

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 45: Cosmos Disturbance: Operation Black Out

Lethargic and lazy Zim was hours distance from the small star and planet. The twinkly light of Saiph was small but he could see it. So close he wanted to fly faster, push his ship an alarming speed and be there. Get the mission over and done yet he steadied his excitement and temerity in his motivation. He had to rest first. Pak driven Irkens never slept and if he came exhausted, they might send him to Meekrob without a second thought. He couldn't risk it. He slowly stopped the ship and placed it on park. The brakes set and kept the engine from being mobile. Zim check the tanks before hitting the cot. He lay on the cot, head flattening the pillow staring up at the white metal ceiling. He got used to the motor murmur of the engine and relied on it like a lullaby. Zim shuttered his eyes and shut them. He fell asleep with little effort.

When he awoke, nothing interesting happened. He had no clue how long he slept. He sat up on the chair and gazed at his surroundings. Everything was still as though it was a photograph. Zim checked coordinates to Meekrob. He was on track fifty miles away. Zim kept his eyes peeled not distracted by anything. Something did catch his attention. A deep red glowing orb left from the star, Saiph.

"What is that?" Zim muttered aloud. No one could answer his question. He will eventually find out once he gets closer. With each mile, the star became brighter and the unknown object shaped. Thirty miles from his destination, he recognized it. The Massive, the Armada is here, and docked at what appeared to be an observation deck. The long structure stretched east to west under the Massive like a floating disk. The platform illuminated a hue of light from the deck; a definite sign of production and existence of their species. The observation deck had another dominating feature. A satellite dish larger than any dish he seen. Behind the dish, he saw the structure had a tall building not expecting it. He question how much more there is. Closer he flew; he saw ships parked in the port like a busy day at the super market. To his right, he saw the prize they were obsessed to win, Meekrob. The planet was light brown and shaped like a rough solid marble floating next to Saiph. Zim notice the size of the planet compared to the Massive and observation deck. The size difference was outrageous. Combined, the Irken headquarters was three times greater than the small feeble planet. Zim blurted out:

"I came all this way to conquer a tiny planet they could destroy themselves?" Zim soon regretted what he said then flew closer. Then from the distance, two ships disperse from the deck and flew straight towards him. Zim halted his ship and waited for their approach. It must be security, he wondered. Any false move he could be shot down. He hoped they would tell him to go away and it would be the end of the trip. It couldn't be that easy.

The ships, both wielding the Irken mark of his people, flew quickly. It surprised Zim in a blink of an eye they met outside his ship. Dark solid purple ships hovered mid-space. Zim stared into the windshield of the first ship. The glass reflected his white ship then the windshield digitally fazes clear. A small Irken sat at the controls wearing a long black goggles blocking eye contact Zim couldn't reach with the first of his kind in years. The officer showed no expression. Zim glance at the second officer and it was like seeing double. No expression. They looked exactly the same. The eerie similarity scared him. Zim thought maybe if he could talk to them it would ease the tension then remembered he had no radio. No way of communication. He thought he give it a shot.

"Hello, I'm Zim. I'm here for the Meekrob conquest mission." Zim said. The officers shifted and curled their lips after Zim spoke. They heard. Their goggles flashed into Zim's cockpit. It blinded him for a second. Zim heard someone speak.

"Welcome, we have been expecting you."

Zim looked around at where the voice projected itself and heard the transmission coming from his boom box.

"Follow us. We will lead you to your reserved space. Are you well? Can you speak Irken?"

Zim was stumped. He, confused, glance at the two and it dawn on him he was addressing them in English. Zim corrected the mistake.

"Yes, sorry, my mistake. I have been living among the natives so long speaking English comes natural. Yes, I can speak Irken."

"Excellent." The officer spoke Irken. "Follow us. Your commander will meet you shortly."

'Commander?' Zim thought protesting in his mind. 'I thought I was doing this solo.'

Zim didn't complain and obediently followed the patrol officers to the docking platform outside the tall building near the satellite dish. Zim witness the full statue size of it. He landed the ship and was weary if he needed a suit. Zim notice the officers stand by their ships without equipment so he assumed the atmosphere is breathable. Zim left the cockpit and joined them onto the metal steel enforced inorganic platform. Zim stood between the tiny officers. Hard to believe they were intimidating standing three feet tall but Zim did. From the building, a sliding door swift open revealing one person walking out. The person, he assumed, his commander walked in a steady march style one foot then the other to him. The person draw near and shaped to someone Zim recognized. With identical antenna curls and sharp violent violet eyes, Zim knew who she was and couldn't believe the coincidence. She was Tak. She glared as she approached. Could be glaring or not. She wore dark signature colors. Purple suit fit tight framing her body and draped down pass her knees dusting the ground each step she took. Zim stared intensely not taking his eyes off her. As she drew near, her expression did not change. She did not smile. Why would she smile? Tak had to deal with Zim. Tak stopped standing like she was taller than he. Zim did smile but it quivered.

"You're my commanding officer?" Zim said atlas.

"That's right." Tak said matter of fact. Zim quiver was steady and turned into a confident smile. Tak twitched at his insolence and punched him square in the gut. It hurt and crumbled Zim to his knees. It's been a while since anyone blown him a punch like that. He squirmed then cried:

"What did you do that for?" Zim looked up at the punisher and she darted those purple eyes lacking remorse.

"You not salute you Commander and you dare question why I hit you? You showed no respect. Get up!"

Zim grunted and stood up taking in the sting. Zim saluted her and Tak turned away walking to the tall structure. Zim followed not hesitating demand. Tak trigger the sliding door and they entered the corridor with ceiling dome shaped lights. Zim staggered inches away while Tak lead. He didn't want another confrontation but could not help to be curious though Tak's success was evident.

"You did well." Zim spoke up. "Compare to last time we met trying to steal my mission."

Tak stopped and Zim halted too. Zim sense her tense rancor nature.

"The past is the past. There is no point of mentioning or a motive. I am simply following orders and They told me I had to brief you of our research of Meekrob preparing your invasion."

"But you wanted the mission." Zim stated what he knew about Tak. This statement force Tak to turn around.

"It would be suicidal if I stepped foot however with you, it has no effect. Once again you have been given a special mission." Tak said out of spite. Zim glared down at her.

"I'm not special." Zim said serious. It surprised her he of all people said that being the ego maniac he is. She turned around and walked foreword like the conversation never happened. Zim accepted the silence and went into the control room with her. The room was rectangular peering down from the podium. Many Irkens were typing busy on computers. Outside through the long thin window was the satellite and to the right, Meekrob. Tak approach the scientists downstairs.

"Any new intel to report?" She addressed loudly. They stopped typing and look to her. One stood out of his seat and saluted Tak.

"Nothing to report, Ma'am." He stated. "The information we have is correct and values our hypothesis."

"Excellent, continue verifying our sources." Tak gave them orders. He sat down and they continue their research. She directed her attention towards Zim.

"Of what we gathered," Tak said, "Meekrob is home to at least thousands. Their population is small but powerful. We don't know how they can spot our invaders and sniff them out. Some unknown technology but it has to do with our Paks. We have done our research from a far and found a foible flaw in their Empire. They only have one city and it is the center and power force of their society which they thrive. We believe if the power source is destroyed, their civilization will be vulnerable and collapse ripe for the taking. Our military will swoop down and take care of the rest. The planet will be ours."

"You need me to shut down their main power source?"

Tak chin rose remarkable of what she witness.

"You actually listening, paying attention?" Tak said blankly surprised.

"Yes, I was. That's the plan, right?" Zim gave off an insulting reaction from the Commander. Tak nodded.

"Yes, that's when you come in."

"Was I really an ass?" Zim asked her smiling. Tak gave him a strange look.

"You were raffish with your tactics but it will come in handy in this mission as long as you obey orders."

"The sooner the better," Zim said then felt an urge overwhelm him. Something urgent he kept held in for so long it rose immensely.

"I had my doubts about you," Tak said, "I thought you would not cooperate and act arrogant. It's refreshing to see a change of character." Tak watched Zim turn his head back and forth looking over her at every direction. She regretted what she said and barked, "What are you doing?"

"Oh," Zim finally heard her. "I was looking for the bathroom."

"Pardon?" Tak question the peculiar Irken.

"You know, to do my business. I have to pee really badly."

"Like a common animal?" Tak questioned. "Absurd! You have been living with the humans too long. You don't need a bathroom. No Irken does!"

"Well, I need to." Zim bounced around agitated. "You saying you have no bathroom?"

"No, we don't!" Tak said, "Quit fooling around!" Zim ignored her and searched for anything he could use. He found a trash can with a cover over the top.

"That will do." Zim said and stood at trash can. It was at the right height to do his business. He unzipped the crotch and let it out. The circular lid covers his ding-dong. Tak was literally mortified. The scientists however were fascinated by him able to urinate. They never seen an Irken pee before or thought it was possible. They stopped their research and stared.

"What's he doing?"

"It can't be!"

"Impossible!"

Zim did feel uncomfortable everyone watching him but ignored it and finished the deed. They were as curious as flies swarming him for answers.

"How could you do this?"

"What causes this affect?"

Zim tackle their questions with one answer.

"When I no longer had my Pak, I tend to rely on my body's rhythm like eating, sleeping and going to the bathroom. We really don't need our Paks."

"Fascinating!"

"Remarkable!"

"How did you remove it without dying?"

"A human scientist by the name of Professor Membrane revived me and restored my memories after defusing the Pak."

"Get out!" Tak finally said. They all notice the despicable anger of their Commander gritting her face. "That was disgusting! How can you praise him after performing such an act?"

The raucous scientists stopped their curiosity instantly when Tak openly objected. They went back to their positions.

"As for you," Tak pointed at Zim when he zipped his pants. "Get out of my sight before I do something I'll never regret."

Zim heard her threat and sneaked by her out the door.

"Don't want her angry; don't pee in front of Tak." Zim noted himself then smirked. "But her expression was priceless."

Zim stood in the long corridor stretch staring at the cadmium blue walls leering out the windows at the beautiful planet.

"Is my mission that easy? Shut off their power and the planet is conquered. It can't be that easy?" Zim questioned. "Can I do this?"

He thought the answer would be clear once he got but it was never lucid in the first place. The doubts overwhelmed him and the power Zim had terrified him. He was their key, their tool.

"I don't want to be a tool." Zim said and marched out of the building. He was leaving to his ship planning to escape. The thoughts seeped into his mind as the only option. When he open the latch and saw the yearbook, he ceased staring down at the book. Zim picked up the book and flipped through the pages. He couldn't flee. He knew his friends and family depended on him. Making sure their planet would be safe, their lives spared. It was the promise he kept them whether he died or not. He would try. Zim looked back on Meekrob and apologized.

"I'm sorry, I have to." Zim said believing maybe they would hear and understand but he realized he only said it as a way to relieve his guilt playing along with his people's belligerence.

"Zim, is that you?"

Zim turned around to the seemly familiar voice. There he was, the small Irken round fellow he haven't seen since Earth.

"Skoodge?" Zim said and genuinely smiled. The first real happiness he felt in a while since the voyage. He wanted to give him a hug but didn't because the vast difference in size so he decided on a handshake as a suitable greeting. "How have you been?"

"Great," Skoodge said with vigor shaking Zim's hand. He dressed in styling silver colored suit; a sign of promotion plus the few inches he grew. "With your help that is. You finally made it."

"You knew I be here?" Zim questioned the knowledge he obtained.

"Everybody knows you're here and been expecting your arrival for a very long time." Skoodge admitted.

"They know I'm here too!" Zim shouted shocked. He landed twenty minutes ago. "I forgot how fast word travels among us."

"Yes, yes it does." Skoodge agreed.

"How was the mission after you left Earth? Was it successful?" Zim started small chat. It's been awhile he had a conversation with anyone. He felt chatty. Especially with someone he likes.

"It was. I did find the most abundant source in the universe and it has been floating with us the whole time." Skoodge said and motioned to the balls of light Zim made an imaginary alliance through the travel.

"Stars?" Zim glance at particles occupying the dark sky.

"Stars carry lots of energy in their mass some varying from others but more so the same. I suggest a way of harnessing energy from stars we would have an unlimited resource which could last million years to come."

Zim was troubled by the idea and looked upon them.

"Wouldn't we run out of stars?"

"There are stars forming every day. They are chemically combined gas and matter." Skoodge assumed Zim's concerns. "It's not alive."

Zim still felt skeptical and remained silent. He really had no patience to argue.

"The Tallests thought it was a great idea. They are doing more research as we speak." Skoodge fell silent too. The excitement of bumping into each one faded instantly.

"I'm on an urgent mission I must leave for." Skoodge ended firm.

"Wait," Zim spoke. Skoodge turn to Zim.

"There's something I have to give you." Zim said. "It's from the girl who trusted me with your gift."

Skoodge halted leaving so soon and escorted to Zim's ship. Zim went inside the vessel and found the card tucked in his clothes. He sat outside the latch and handed Skoodge the envelope. He opened it and read. The expression on his face lightens.

"She really likes the gem?"

"Yes, who wouldn't like it?"

"And that means she knows your true identity." Skoodge put two and two together.

"Yep and since the incident our friendship grew deeply into something far more intimate. She's my mate."

Skoodge looked up suddenly hearing the news. Zim smiled a cocky grin but he didn't mean anything from it.

"I know it's unorthodox but I don't care. I love her." Zim openly admitted vulnerability. Skoodge said nothing and looked at the card.

"Mary wrote that herself. The letter you're holding. I taught her." Zim expressed.

"That's impressive. Smart to pick up on writing our dialect."

"Really smart. She's something special." Zim said then uttered under his breath. "I miss her. I want to finish this mission soon as possible and get back."

"You don't want to live on Irk? The Tallests are considering giving you a chance to join our society, end your banishment."

"I don't belong here. I never did. I want to go home to Earth." Zim said like he was committing treason. From the distance Tak came approaching. Her arrival ended their conversation. Skoodge notice her presence and formally salute her. Zim didn't show respect and sat on his ass. Tak huffed and let it go. She had no time being furious.

"The Tallests would like to meet with you, welcome you in the Massive." Tak said, "We must report to them at once."

Zim gritted his teeth not liking it one bit. He despised them hoping he wouldn't face them but they were in charge of him, once again. Zim stood up and smiled to Skoodge.

"It was nice speaking to you. I'll let her know you liked the card." Zim said then walked along Tak to the big red bubble vessel of the Tallests' ship. Zim and Tak reached the gigantic Irken symbol in the front. Zim was expecting a door of some kind but he didn't see one. A beam emitted from the middle black Irken dot. It startled him unlike Tak who stood firm accepting the beam traction evaporating their molecules. The next moment, they were traversed inside. Zim oscillate each side of him observing the surroundings. They were in the main control room many Irkens working on the board clicking buttons checking functions were ordinary and proper. Among them, were not their single species. Smaller creatures ran and walked escorted by taller soldiers. This species had wide eyes with pupils. Their flesh assorted blue, brown and red, tiny bodies with arms, hands, legs and feet. They ran immediate to every Irken demand. It kind of reminded him of an Earth feline the way their ears shaped pointed and prominent earlobes. He knew in a second due to their tatterdemalion clothing they weren't sharing equal benefits. They were slaves. Their size served a disadvantage and enslaved them to obey their orders.

"Stop staring." Tak snapped at Zim. He didn't think he was staring that long but it did attract attention. "They are Vemellions captured on the planet Vermin. The Tallests and soldiers are convening in the conference hall."

Zim followed Tak but kept heedful looking at each suffering Vemellion.

One ran quickly under him a light brown plump one. It must have been a child since it was smaller than the others. It was carrying a drink on a circular tray. When approaching an Irken at the control board, the young thing tripped on its feet and the drink fell on the Irken's lap. The dish dropped to the ground creating a loud crash. Vemellions ceased looking to the sound. The Irken growled expressing his discomfort and glared towards the creature. He raised his hand.

"You stupid whelp!" The Vemellion shut its eyes awaiting pain. Nothing happened. It opened its eyes seeing Zim standing before it. Zim held the angry Irken's hand. It surprised everyone mostly the Irken soldier a person of his species, especially someone taller than he stopped him. The frazzled Irken stared at Zim.

"He spilled my drink." The Irken proclaimed as a good reason to discipline.

"It was an accident. Why don't you cool off and clean yourself up?" Zim mediate a solution other than beating a slave. Zim let go of his hand and he walked off wiping the extra juice off his uniform. Zim turn to the young Vemellion.

"Are you alright?" Zim asked it. Zim saw it pick up the tray and cup and ran off. Zim caused a peculiar reaction that didn't go unnoticed. Each Vemellion stared at him. Tak grabbed Zim's arm retaliating.

"What are you doing? Don't help the underling!"

"They are not underling. They are people." Zim said.

"Honestly, must I always keep my eye on you?" Tak said, "Your becoming more trouble than the mission's worth. Follow me and this time, I mean it."

Zim abided by her command and accompanied Tak through the hallway pass the Convention Hall. Zim stopped looking at the wide door among the crowd attending.

"We are not entering there." Tak said then motioned to the solid red door. "We are going on stage."

Tak opened the door and Zim stopped from entering backstage.

"Can't I skip going on stage and do the mission?" Zim offered.

"You're under direct orders from the Tallests to join them."

"Not if I throw up." Zim said and was to stick his fingers in his mouth but Tak pull him by the arm getting him backstage. Zim stared at the long wide neon red stage floor then to the crowd of people waiting below under in the dark red industrial room. "Fuck!"

"Fuck?" Tak repeated strangely confused by the meaning.

"Yeah, as in, this sucks, as in, I don't want to do this."

"You have no choice in the matter. Show some consideration and decency to your fellow people."

Immediately, Zim saw them, The Tallests Red and Purple beam onstage. The glimpse sends shivers down his spine more exactly pain. A back ache developed by reaction. He was stiff as a board not arguing with Tak. Tak looked upon the proud Tallests. The crowd went wild. The Almighty Tallests waved to their people. How they loved the lime light and liturgy. Red raised his hand in silence and they ceased cheering.

"We have come a long way. Operation Impeding Doom 2 is at its peak to completion. The universe is ours!" Red announced. "Now that our secret agent is back from vacation."

"Secret agent? Vacation?" Zim scolded his lies.

"Let's welcome Invader Zim!" Red shouted. Everyone cheered his arrival yet Zim was inert and immobile. Tak pushed his lower back forward and walked with Tak on stage.

They were as spindly as he remembered unnatural waist lines but this time he was eye level with them. They were still taller by few inches hovering from their Paks. Red and Purple smiled like they had something to hide. Zim didn't trust the sociable welcome.

Zim looked down at them thousands screaming their welcome. It has always been his dream to have fame when he was a smeet but grew up. Some fame isn't important. He didn't smile or wave, stood quiet waiting for the next notion soon popping out of their mouths.

"Thanks to the lovely Commander Tak and her analysts, we discovered a weak spot Zim will disarm. After so, we swoop in and over take the city."

"Victory will be ours!" Purple shouted.

Zim pondered the sudden appearance at the digital picture of Meekrob overlaying the city hoping for more information. Nothing was available on the map.

"Zim," Red addressed him. "We haven't heard a peep from you not even a suitable greeting. Are you excited about your mission? The second chance you wanted."

"I just want to get it over with." Zim muttered.

"That's no fun!" Purple taunted Zim.

"Zim, don't be a flop in a flapmare. The Zim I used to know would be begging to have this even if he screws up over and over again."

"Yeah, begging like a Vemellion." Purple laughed. Zim rounded his fists feeling the tension. Then he turned to Red. He couldn't remain silent.

"If you were great conquerors why do you need me?" Zim shouted over Purple's laughter. This got The Tallests, everybody's' attention. "Your mocking of my inability makes you foolish trusting me on this mission. I want to know, why do need Meekrob? It's not big enough to offer any resource and far as I can tell, it's a lifeless planet."

"It's not lifeless, remember, the Meekrobs who killed our Invaders." Red reminded Zim curtly.

"No wonder they would. Protect them from slavery and genocide. Your ravenous greed is going to kill them all and I can't believe I will be a part of this." Zim struggled with the decision.

"Now, now, Zim, you here, you made that decision you might as well do something good once in your pathetic life and help us. If not, you wouldn't want harm to come to that little boy you grew tall with or the human you fond for, what's her name again?"

Zim didn't say a word and glared at Red.

"Right, that shut you up. You picked the worst time to have compassion but you're as bold as ever."

"I want the old Zim back!" Purple exclaimed. "He was annoyed but he wasn't sappy."

Zim marched off stage. Tak followed. She was enraged Zim was rude and disrespectful. Zim found the nearest broom closet and remained. He needed to blow off some steam. Zim tried to contain his anger but what set it off was when Tak stepped forward the sliding door and entered his chaos. Tak caught him leaning on the window because he heard Tak come through the door. He didn't face her when she lashed criticisms.

"What's wrong with you addressing the Tallests like that? Are you mad? What right do you have to be disrespectful to those who would give you the chance to redeem yourself and come home, be a hero and pledge loyalty to the Irken Empire? Are you willing to throw it away? Help me understand your reasoning why you always the rebel. What do you have to gain being out of line? I wouldn't throw away that second chance if I were you."

"If you were me?" Zim questioned bitterly. "You obviously don't know the whole story. I was not given a 'second chance', I was forced. I had no other choice or else they would destroy Earth. The place I did belong and free to be myself. Sure, I concealed my identity but neither the less I was free to decide my own fate, make mistakes and learn from it. Not be executed on the spot. Once you taste freedom you understand what it's like to be imprisoned. The Irken Empire is a prison forcing us into military lives when we're smeets. You don't get to do what you want, they won't let you and if you disagree you're not for the cause and branded a traitor even if you have a different point of view or better solution. The reason I wasn't thrown out of the air lock is because they need me and can overlook my complaints but if you did it, you would be replaced on the spot."

"That's not true." Tak protested. "I worked very hard to get where I am today."

"You really think that matters to them. You're placing your faith on leaders who have minds of privileged twelve year olds."

"Don't say another betraying word. Whether you like it or not, you're here and have to pledge your loyalty to Irk and your fellow Irkens."

"Were you there when I got electrocuted and banished to Earth?"

"I," Tak stumbled and wondered why Zim brought this up. "I was not present at the ceremony."

"Ceremony? If you call it that," Zim said and leered closer. "I bet you were happy, satisfied I was burned on the spot, weren't you?"

Tak didn't say a word.

"Then don't say I have to pledge my loyalty to people who laughed when I was tortured. And I especially don't need to be respectful towards you so get out of my way before I make you move." Zim glared like death at his little Commander. He had it with her and didn't care what threat she may pose. Tak realized it too.

"Where are you going?" Tak was brave to ask.

"Somewhere to think. Don't worry, I don't need a chaperone. I won't run off, I made my decision." Zim passed Tak exiting the tiny room and turned right. Tak cursed his name under her breath.

Zim wondered the hallways. He hated being here. He desired seclusion. Among his people he wanted to be hermit. Be alone and not around destruction or anyone who criticized and remind him of his duties. He eventually discovered on the top floor, and observation deck. It was empty. Benches bolted upon the red interior floor, the big window displayed Meekrob and Saiph. The window blocked the glare of the bright star shining on Meekrob perfectly. Zim sat on the middle bench and sighed. He then opened his wallet to pictures he placed here before the journey. They were pictures of when they were constructing the ship. The extra pictures Tina printed. One photo showed Josh and Brian inside the cockpit wiring the controls. A picture of Dib and Zim holding up the ship's frame Dib struggling while Zim held the extra weight. In the last photo were Zim and Mary sitting together at the patio table. Zim zoned into the past and time spent building the ship. It was a challenge and took a lot of working prepping a space ship from scratch but it was fun. He had more fun building the sucker than flying it. He smiled at the pictures and fond memories forgetting his troubles temporarily.

"Excuse me," The weakly kind voice talks to Zim. He looked up on a face of an elder tall Irken. She had bags under her red magenta eyes and wore a long robe. Though she was hunching she was still taller than Zim. "Can I sit with you? The benches are too far and I'm feeling a bit weak."

"Uhh, sure." Zim said and moved over a seat. She slowly sat on the seat and laid her cane against the bench. She warmly smiled to Zim and saw the pictures.

"Are those your friends?"

"Yes, they are."

Usually Zim isn't open to strangers but somehow her meddling did not bother him. He felt comfortable showing his pictures. She seemed friendly and open, not narrow minded like the many Irkens he met and she had no slaves attending her.

"You must care greatly about them." She said, "You should always cherish friendships. I'm so glad you were so happy on Earth, Zim." Zim was surprised by this and the gesture she presented her hand on his backhand. "I hate seeing you like this."

He staggered to comment and stood up.

"Who are you?" Zim shouted to the stranger familiar of him.

"No need to be frightened." She said, "You're safe talking with me. How could our people be so divided and cruel to one another? I cried and wept when finding out your punishment and pain you suffered. I try to help all my children but I couldn't save you, for that I am sorry."

Zim listen to the woman's genuine expression of sorrow and met her eyes. He has seen those eyes before in him at his own reflection. This woman was telling the truth. She was his mother.

"But how? How can you be my mother? I was taught all life came from the computers."

"All life must come from life. I was one of the chosen carriers born to reproduce. When I reached adulthood, they took my eggs and reset the DNA so no Irken is alike but I still consider them my children all five hundred and three because they are a part of me. I can sense it. Must be mother's intuition."

It awfully disturbed him knowing the truth. He rubbed his face and hid it.

"Please tell me I'm not anyway related to the Tallests."

"No, they are Tallest Miyuki's offspring." She said, "Yes, even Tallest are gifted to become mothers."

"Doesn't seem to be a gift if you were only selected to bear children." Zim posed a flaw in her statement. She laughed.

"I wasn't the only one, there are many of us," She said then stern. "But carrier selections are fewer these days."

"Because we're living longer."

"You can say that." She said concealing another secret. "Nobody knows or worries of our population decline, in fact, it's forbidden to meet with your offspring but I like to pull a few strings behind the scenes. Break the rules if necessary."

"Why are you talking to me? Are you here trying to convince me I should stay on Irk?"

"Oh, no, you should go back to Earth." She said quickly. She stood up and put her hands on him. "Another outburst like that, they may imprison you. Please settle down and do the mission. And when completed, get out of here as fast as you can. You have a free will and can speak for yourself they will execute you. I'm warning you, Zim, because I don't want you to die or spend the rest of your life in jail."

Zim nodded. He knew she was right. He was far too different than the Irken he once marched with. He knew he wouldn't belong in this environment after adopting Earth habits. He found peace someone did care he was banished.

"Is this why you want to speak with me?"

"Yes, now get to your station before someone searches for you."

"Can I know the name of my mother?"

"Luba."

Zim hugged her unannounced. It surprised her greatly she didn't know how to react.

"Thank you, Luba." Zim said and let go, he ran without saying goodbye maybe because it was too sad. He was meeting his mother for the first and final time. Corner of her eye, Luba spotted something on the bench Zim left behind. It was a picture of Zim and Dib. Luba felt a tear slip out as she sat on the bench looking at the picture of the only son she ever met.

Zim's meeting with Luba straightened his attitude. It didn't matter how he felt, he had to complete the mission and get out of here. He had no choice. If he bailed, they will track him and kill him. He was in their territory and obeys their rules. He went directly to the control center into the teleport pod. Zim beamed down marched onward to the research center. Tak notice the sudden entrance. Zim saluted her and asked boldly.

"When can we execute the invasion?"

Tak stared bewildered at the flip-flop attitude Zim presented.

"In two hours. Suit up then we'll begin operation Blackout."

Zim abide her rules and Tak pointed him to the suit up area. Zim looked around the room and saw nothing but a circular disk on the floor. It beckoned him.

"Welcome, stand on the platform to begin."

"Okay," Zim stretched as the strangest thing he heard from a talking platform. Zim stepped and stood on the platform, then it dropped into the floor and Zim found himself in a cylinder tube. Very easy to say he developed a fear of cramped spaces. He panicked and called out for help.

"Black Out Suit-up Operation begins."

The cylinder emitted a red dotted laser beam scanning Zim's body from head to toe. Zim saw something forming around him become real. He stared at his shoes, pants and shirt changing into a dark maroon and black pants felt like spandex but it wasn't. He watches his hands form gloves and in a sudden jolt the new required clothes grew heavy on him like a suit of armor; designed Irken armor. He was wearing a battle suit. The platform moved upward and Tak was standing by meeting him.

"You are wearing a stealth suit able to morph its design and blend in to any surrounding."

"Like a chameleon."

"What?"

"An Earth lizard that can change its skin with anything it touches."

"If you like to make that comparison. It also circulates oxygen and maintains your body's temperature. The planet is really hot and Saiph creates solar flares. These are your gauges." Tak pointed to his right arm below the shoulder. One regulates your breathing and switches on your oxygen helmet the other your heat. It will activate manually and in emergency mode if you're in danger. These gauges are installed in case the suit malfunctions."

"Is there a chance of it happening?"

"There is, there is not. This suit is a prototypes never tested to it's full potential since the Irken Invaders died. That is why the controls are installed."

"Gotcha'," Zim said feeling a nervous ball stuck in his throat. Zim swallowed the fear and follow Tak to the control room. The Irken scientists displayed a map before them and Tak pointed to it. The coordinates displayed to her touch.

"You are landing here," She pointed at a dune. "Two hundred yards from the city avoiding contact or suspicious. Be aware and be careful soldier." Tak blessed Zim with a warning. Zim nodded and marched out from the control room, out the door. Zim walked to his ship no hesitation. He was gonna do it. He opened the latch and stepped into the cockpit. He buckled up, put down the stereo; he tucked away the year book and journal. He was ready for lift off and started the ignition. Zim lifted his ship from the platform and flew to Meekrob.

The planet grew bigger and bigger each 100 miles he flew at great speed. He broke into the atmosphere. Sandy dust pounded and cleared away from the windshield. It was dense but he was able to see once he slowed down. He saw the city and estimated two hundred yards west where he should land. It was an amazement of buildings like sculptures created by a complicated artists standing tall and grand. It seems to be made out of glass or very shiny steel. Zim thought it was beautiful and took pity he had to destroy it. Zim felt wind beating on the ship once he landed. It seems to develop an ongoing pattern and beat hitting the exterior like a drum. Zim got out of his seat and went into the luggage finding his gun. He discovered he had no pockets. A holster appeared around his waist. They weren't kidding it was adaptable armor. He touched the dial on his suit and it was animated. The oxygen bubble surrounded his head and disappeared. He knew it worked, he felt the oxygen and heat leveling throughout his body.

He opened the latch and was instantly blinded. He looked upon the sand adjusting his eyes to the star light imitating the sun's strong hold on the Earth. He was not use to that much projecting light since travelling in space for two weeks. It took him a moment until he set his sight lucid and not bended. Atlas, he studied the surroundings and felt the wind of hot sand hit his body. It was not pleasant but doable. He can see all that around him. Zim check the shocks of the ship seeing if it can depend on the ground. By luck, he landed on solid ground and shut the latch.

The land stretched long and vigorous reflecting off Saiph. Zim tried pinpoint where the city was but it was hard to see even with adjusted eyes. The sand, dust blowing heat made it difficult. The protection of the oxygen helmet aided him from the sand coming down his throat and choking him.

"If only I can see…" Zim said out loud. Then dark shades cast upon his eyes causing his sight a little darker. The suit performed the deed of assisting him. "That convenient."

Zim began his mission walking upon the trail he set himself, the trail they set him and carried on. The blistering heat didn't bother him. He ignored it completely examining the land, anything which could cause danger. Towards the glistening city, the city itself played mirages resembling an oasis he could not reach. The more he set his eyes on it, the farther it seems.

Thirst clutched his throat. He thought he should have grabbed a juice pouch or food but that mistake he must overlook and focus on what's really important. Bring darkness on civilization. The guilt did slow him down. Steps he took felt like five pounds to the ankles. It could have been the armor or the heat and sand blowing causing the extra weight but he like to think its guilt. He didn't want to believe he lost the dignity knowing what's right and wrong. It was dead wrong but he had to do it anyways.

Zim stopped contemplating and notice the ground ten feet long forward covered in small cracks. Zim experimented pressing his foot gently on it and immediately it crumbled revealing a deep abyss. Zim gulped anxious aware he could have made a grave mistake if he was brash. Zim walked along the possible chasm finding the least cracks and safest way to cross. He found stable ground and slowly took his steps wearily. Within halfway in the journey, he heard a sudden quake and the ground shook below him and began eroding. In a panic, Zim darted off it and ran feeling each step turn to dust. He thought he would die but was determined not to. Then the ground before him crumbled and without second thoughts he leaped onto the cliff's edge and dug his fingers in the dirt gripping for life, wanting to be alive. He watched the remaining dirt fall around and showers him as he hung on. He pulled his body up and climbed from the cliff. He gasped for air, the fright almost stunned him but it wasn't an option. Zim stood up, took deep breaths and moved forward.

The solar winds blew thicker. The city was harder to see but he knew it was near. Zim activated his stealth suit then stepped out of the windy loop. Upon entering, the wind created and blew behind Zim. It was hard to explain but somehow the city was aerodynamic. The wind or sand didn't blow or wash over the buildings. Zim took above and saw the sky was clear and white from the Saiph sun. It had an atmosphere Zim discovered if he can't see visible stars. He didn't risk exploring the discovery. Zim kept the oxygen he had and move slowly inside the metropolis hugging around a shiny building. What he noticed while hiding from wall to wall was the building strange designs. They had no windows or doors. This set Zim on edge. Zim guessed they were transversal beings meaning they could pop out of anywhere and he'll be caught. Zim took caution he had not seen anyone yet. He thought this was strange too. He travelled denser into the city and a couple of yards he seen something most magnificent. It hovered above and around gigantic arches light reflecting it. It was pure energy of the city and Meekrobs. Zim gulped intimidated. This was what he had to destroy. He had to obliterate something greater than he. He picked up the gun from the holster and nervousness stumble the grip of the weapon. Both hands he held it looking down when he put himself in position but he couldn't move. Thoughts raced in his mind, the thoughts which told him he was gonna die. The coward inside him awakens and Zim threw it back in its cage. He blocked it the only way he knew how.

"When maybe apart tonight, you on your planet and so am I," Zim muttered the first verse of the old song. He didn't know why he was trying this but surprising enough it worked. It reminded him of home, why he was doing this. He sang it through his conscience repeating the melody and moved forward walking beyond the arches. He stood witness to the roaring ball of light.

He looked around trying to find its weakness anyway to shut it off while singing the old familiar tune.

"You and I are like a shooting star-"

A rush of pain shocked the brain and brought Zim to his knees. He dropped the gun while holding his head from exploding. He screamed so loud he couldn't contain the pain, the vibration of something entering his brain. He tried to fight it then the thoughts came back. He had failed, he's going to die. Zim revealed his location from his horrid scream. He thought of the people he let down, the promises he kept to Dib, Gir, Minimoose, Membrane, Gaz, Tina, Josh, Brian and Mary. Tears slipped knowing he lied, lied to the ones he loved. He will never see them again. He apologized under his breath, a scream if he could he would scream it. He let it go, surrendering the will, his life remembering the deal and put his faith in it like a final goodbye.

"Perhaps this way, they would be free. I can be free." And he collapsed on the ground dirt covering his face below the perennial light.


	46. Parallax Judgment

It's a wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)

Chapter 46: Cosmos Disturbance: Parallax Judgment

Placidity gathered like the clouds of dust overcoming Zim's collapsed body. No sounds other than the erratic swoosh and vibrate power of the numinous light. Then they emerge from it. One by two, three native creatures emanate from the light towards Zim. They saw the peculiar creature entered their territory and at first glance, not by conscience screening but a single glance it amazed them he was an Irken.

"Irken? Why is he here?" One spoke.

"It is evident." Another Meek fellow pointed to the ray gun. "It's why our defenses are up."

"Look at its back." The first whom made the observation spoke once more. "It has no Pak."

"It's why it was able to sneak so close without suspecting."

"We have a problem."

"Is it a new soldier creation?"

"It is different from the others." Finally the third Meek spoke. The others listen to the wise Meek. The Meek hovered over Zim. "I can sense it. We heard it sing. We never knew any Irken can and in a different language."

An alert Meek stared precise to the next action. The others sense what their leader will do.

"Entering the unconscious is dangerous if performed outside our race." The Meek warned their leader. "The Irken could be unstable."

"A risk I will take ensuring our safety. Join the others, everything is according and moving forward." They enter the light respecting the leader's wishes.

Their leader dove into Zim's subconscious. Memories swamped over like an unstoppable wave. The Meek buried deeper pass it into his dreams. Meek broke the improbable claims and worries and floated in his bedroom entering Zim's world. The Meek examined the dream unfolding, Zim's greatest desire.

Zim held his goddess under the sheets. They moved out of the covers desiring cool, fresh air. The room was dark and inspires exploration of a romantic setting. Mary shifted from his chest and firmly placed her palm under his chin.

"I'm so happy your home." Mary said with glimmer in her eyes. Zim was astonished how beautiful she looked. The lack of seeing her really appreciated Mary but he can't shake the feeling something's not right. He couldn't remember how he returned home. Maybe he was exhausted.

"I don't recall how I got here." Zim stated. Mary giggled.

"Silly," She smiled and kissed his cheek. Mary sat up and stood out of bed. She wore her white elegant prom dress. "You invaded Meekrob and disarmed their security."

"I did?" Zim questioned the possibility.

"Uh-huh." Mary said and nodded. She carried herself to Zim's side of the bed and smiled. "Why you do it?" Mary's tone changed quickly from flaunty to somber. Zim, confused, stared at the girl. Mary smiled and sat next to Zim. She slides her fingers between his right antenna and back on her lap. She said sweetly, "You know I love you and you can always trust me. I just need to know why."

"I did it to protect you," Zim said. "To protect all I care for."

"That's a lie!"

Immediately a voice broke the pleasant scenery and room became a lurid bright, light. A figure emerges from the darkness and stood intimidating.

"Dib!" Zim shouted recognizing his friend. "How did you get here?"

"Protection wasn't your only agenda." Dib scornfully rebuttal. "You had a choice but you decided the easy way out, by destroying those innocent people."

Zim stood up and the bed disappeared. The room dissolved the walls and there stood him and his rival. "Now wait a minute, I did not destroy them, they, The Armada did."

"Oh, and somehow you're not responsible?" Dib poses the question. Zim looked for help from Mary but she stood silent smirking at Zim taking Dib's side.

"I made my choice. You said it was my decision to make. I rather flow with an Imperial conquest then go against it."

"So you're afraid?" Dib asked burrowed further with more questions.

"Damn straight I'm afraid, do you think I want to live in fear under their leadership again. No, and I didn't want you or anyone to pay the toll because of me. I screwed up, I did, I admit it, but I'm not going to let you suffer because of it."

"They are dead," Dib said cold. "Every one of them is dead because of you."

Zim crumbled to his knees. He didn't understand why his friend was doing this, why his lover stood idle watching him suffer. At that moment, Zim believes he is in Hell.

"I didn't want this." Zim whimpered. "I didn't want them to die. I-I couldn't face them. I couldn't find another way to resolve differences or persuade them to stop. It's my fault." Zim stood up. "I was afraid of dying, I never see you, Mary, Gir or Minimoose, everyone again. Afraid they take my life like they should have long ago. I sacrificed the lives of others over me." Zim's head up and arms reached into the empty sky seeking salvation. "Take me! Take me if it will satisfy your anger. Meekrob, my apologies will never be enough for the lives lost. I would even suffer through torture to make things right. My life is not worth it but I'll die anyways. I am no man, I am a worm. A pathetic worm who was not brave to stand up against Tallest Purple and Red and selfish in protecting my friends and happiness I obtained."

The sky turned black and electrical currents pass through skinny figures of his deranged leaders piercing evil red and purple eyes.

"That's right," Zim welcomed it. "Finish what you started. Destroy me!"

Zim muttered these words lying on the ground awaking from the horrible nightmare.

"Kill…Me…"

He opened his eyes, everything was blurred until he acquired his sight and saw it was no vision. The ground he sat upon was real and tall steel walls occluded him in the triangular room.

"I'm alive?" Zim pondered in awe. Zim examined the place more. There was no door. How did he get here? No windows either or light fixture. The structure must absorb light from the outside. He lack concern for the windows and focus on the fact of no entrance or no exit. He was trapped, their prisoner. Zim tried to stand, then his head pound with an excruciating headache. He sat back down on the sandy dirt.

Sitting in the cell did bring up trivial questions. Why was he spared? Each time he thought of it, he didn't like the possible answer. All Zim could do was wait completely powerless. Suddenly something formed and melted through into the room. The Meek looked to Zim while Zim motioned his eyes on the creature aware his presence. He did not stand or greet him. Zim took the role of their prisoner very seriously. Zim observed the creature's abstract design with its beady blue eyes, long neck stemming from its slender small body. Gossamer white glowing skin and wings like an aura connecting from head to toe. It floated gracefully and addressed him as such.

"Hello Zim." It greeted him in a monotone voice without moving its lips. Zim's antennas perked. "You're surprised I know your name. I had to search your subconscious see if you're a threat and why you're with us. What I discovered was more intriguing, something I wouldn't believe to uncover in the Irken species. You share empathy and compassion outside your race. Among the humans you learned these traits."

"So I have an interesting life," Zim said not joyous of the compliments. "What will these help me now? I'm your prisoner. You stopped our plans and saved yourselves. Congratulations! I can assume the worst possible punishment for me is death."

"You feel no shame you failed the mission?" The Meek observed. Zim laughed like it was amusing.

"It's not my fight."

"I know. I know they forced you. You have been deceived and don't trust your own kind."

"Tell me something I don't know." Zim said sarcastically.

"How about an agreement which you can carry out the Invasion and keep your life?"

Zim turned his head up at the floating swan like being.

"Curious?"

"Go on." Zim allowed it to continue.

"Zim, you have proved yourself worthy as our ally. When put to the test, you were able to give up your life for the sake of ours proved in your dream. The vision I presented you."

"The dream I had you manipulated?" Zim expressed discontent.

"Your conscience played a dramatic role in it too."

Enraged Zim clump dirt in his hand and threw it. The Meek let it roam and shower him not affected.

"Don't be angry with the truth, face it."

"You could have moved if you wanted to since you can read my mind." Zim commented unapologetic.

"Yes, but I will consider it fair treatment of impersonating your friend and lover."

"Now that we are on equal grounds please tell me of your plans. What does it have to do with me?"

"I cannot tell you just yet." The Meek kept secret. Zim didn't think it very wise to provoke and retract a statement. It irritated him honestly. "I have one more task for you."

"And what will that be?" Zim question the mysterious Meek.

"You have to pass through this wall. If you trust me, I will let you through."

"How can I trust my enemy?" Zim asked the Meek.

"You overcome fear." The Meek gave him a hint. "Trust me and I can trust you with my people."

Zim, humble with silence, stood before the reflective wall. His head was throbbing with both pain and concerns what will happen if he cannot. Will they kill him if he didn't? He listens to the advice of his captive and tranquilizes and controlled his fears. He thought of kind things, hopeful things. He hopes to return home. He wished for peace and happiness. A tiny part of him wished tolerance among others so no one would have the fears he had. The hope created optimism and then put the trust of them to be the first wave, the first step to conceive and makes this wish come true. He stood there thinking, looking at the reflection placed upon him, it could be him. Beyond the reflection, he saw dust over and not noted he arrived with it, the gun lying on the ground. He glanced at it but did not quiver nor thought of retrieving it. He stepped first into the wall and the miracle happened. He gains passable access through the wall. It overwhelmed and shocked Zim he ascended and stepped on the other side of the cell. The Meek, pleased of the achievement, greeted Zim on the other side.

"You thought of the future. It's admirable." The Meek commented hovered level with Zim. They were considered of equal status. Zim smirk a surprising smile, it surprised him.

"It's funny I trust a stranger I don't know his name."

"You can call me Nosaer." Nosaer pronounced a name Zim could use.

"I'm Zim." Zim nodded. He knew his name but he thrive to show the same respect of proper introductions. "You left me armed, why?"

"You cannot hurt me." Nosaer said. "Your character is true and profound. You earned a place by my side and meet my people. I can trust you will carry out our plans."

"But I don't know what it is." Zim said.

"You don't want violence. That, I can trust the safety of my people." Nosaer said then floated to the ball of light Zim devoted power. "Come with me."

Nosaer vanished into the light. Zim did not hesitant to enter. The realm he entered was darker in comparison to Meekrob. Then on the horizon he saw Earth. It surprised him. He thought of it as another dream but swayed it wasn't. The ground carried familiar texture and color. Red, a grainy red he forgotten existed until this instance. He witness the pyramids, red bricks layers and Meeks float above them like angelic jellyfish gliding the sky creating illumination. Zim awed at the wonder losing himself in the grace. The worries of where he was melted and soon resurrected when Nosaer spoke.

"Zim," Nosaer said, "This is not what I wanted to present but we appreciate you like our creation process. We welcome your arrival. You come here, we can discuss with another I want you to meet."

Zim followed Nosaer passing another tall pyramid. Behind the corner, Zim saw dismantled seat and control stick.

"Your assumption is correct. We are on Mars."

"Why, why are we here? How are we here?"

Nosaer said not one word. Nosaer left him answering his own questions. It had to do with their plans. Zim looked around at every busy Meek zooming over him. What business is it to be on Mars? Nosaer brought him to a transversal being. Its countenance was faded as with age Zim could assume or of something plaguing it. The Meek Elder stared at Zim intensely but not too long and spoke:

"You have chosen the right path."

The eerie sound of it was strangely compelling.

"There was a moment in your life where you were split at both directions unconscious and or well aware whether you would engage with the humans or against them and shun them as you were abandoned. Deep in your dwelling mind, you've questioned if you made the right decision? Have your empathy cause a great rip between your fellow Irken and Man. I assure you, you have because if you chose the alternative, you would be dead."

Zim blankly looked at the Meek no comment, no expression. He chocked a bit when saying:

"Hi, I'm Zim."

"I know who you are." The Meek said. "You can call me Doswim since your culture is custom to names." Doswim look to Nosaer. "I see why you brought this conclusion, this resolution. He will be indeed useful by both boundaries."

"Okay, now will you tell me what's going on? I've been dragged to Mars tempted to go back to Earth but I have no spaceship so I'm stuck here with Earth in my face!" Zim pointed at the image of Earth distant from Mars' reddish atmosphere. Then it dawned on him. "Wait, Mars is back on Sun's orbit in the solar system!"

"Yes, as a species we moved it back into its gravitational pull with the planets for the atmosphere to adapt in motion."

"Why did you do all this?"

"So we can move, live on this planet." Nosaer revealed. "Mars has the same resource, roughly the mass and climate of our planet. The climate is far more pleasant as on Meekrob where we shield against the solar winds."

"We fear, one day, they would find us and destroy our existence, the Irkens." Doswim said. "Their greed has thrown off the balance of the universe. It's under the belief they want to conquer us as their last planet in conquest."

"It is. That's why I'm here."

"They have not told you our powers and life is essential to the universe."

"No, they did not."

"They may have not realized it." Doswim said.

"Or have. They didn't tell me why they wanted to conquer Meekrob." Zim admitted the secret suspicion he carried since meeting with Tallest Red and Purple.

"If they find the planet bear they would continue their search leaving chaos behind them to get what they want; our lives and complete dominance of the universe."

"You can always fight." Zim suggested.

"We never were brutal and offensive people." Nosaer spoke. "We are different. We think as a whole as one body, one mind, a part of each other. We know every thought of our people."

"If somebody thought of nasty dirty things, everyone can see your daydream?" Zim shouted in disbelief.

"Yes, and stop thinking that, we have children." Nosaer scolded Zim and return to serious discussion. "The thought of killing those Invaders severely damage our psyche our way of life and providence. To kill another is not our way."

"It's why we chose to flee and prepare for the necessary defense in which the day has come we would need to battle."

"But this was before we met you." Doswim said.

"What would you like me to do?" Zim asked the million dollar question.

"Destroy our planet. Go through with the mission and tell them the power source, our teleporter, I assume they thought was our power core, was destroyed and our existence cease and we were killed. We will be safe here, Mars atmosphere is developed. We plan to shut the teleporter behind you when you leave. It may not be the victory they want but it will keep them from looking for us and appear they as the dominate force in the universe."

Zim remain silent when Doswim explained their plan. Doswim look upon the uneasy Irken.

"You are uncertain."

"When I was presented with the issue, it was black and white. Destroy the planet or not. All risky but now the issue has mixed, I'm not sure gray is the better solution either."

"You're worried this may not work."

"I'm worried if I betray the Irken Empire it will doom Earth and my friends." Zim corrected them but they already knew the concerns.

"War was never our interest or way of life. Defense is more natural than offense. We never wanted to end the lives of the Invaders but we saw it necessary so they don't discover our migration. They hearts were tainted with the desire to kill."

"The Invaders before me were victims too such as me; victims of a destructive and cruel way of life and upbringing. We were tools, simple pawns to the cause to our deaths with no objection. When I returned, I felt that effect. How I hate it and now I'm even further in the game being pulled apart by your agenda. If I choose a side what will come of Earth?" Zim stare to the planet he swore protection.

"We have not been entirely honest of our power." Nosaer said. Zim turn towards Nosaer. "We could have rid of the nuisance earlier, the floating satellite platform if it posed a threat but we desired to pull up our roots and live on Mars. The planet we lived on is crumbling and dusting away each hit from Saiph so we were putting our focus on rebuilding Mars. Our power is grander than anyone would expect. We could offer Earth's protection for the sake of ours."

"How?" Zim question this possibility.

"We can rebuild planets," Nosaer offer a chirp expression. "Certainly we can protect them too. I fear you put your trust in the wrong hands if you believe an Empire bent on universal conquest will spare Earth." Zim known what he said was true but he felt uneasy about it all. Making allies with the Meeks offer protection for protection. It was all too leery and hard to believe this was their motive. He had been betrayed several times to inspire paranoia. Just then, Nosaer put a tiny hand on Zim's shoulder.

"This is no trick." Nosaer said looking him in the eyes. "You can trust us. We never betray one of our own."

"You're willing to accept me?"

"Yes, you pass our tests. You are of our race because your judgment and desire for equity is admirable."

Zim felt the bizarre yet warm connection between the Meeks. Their countenance was honest and pure. He didn't feel he was being deceived. If they wanted to end him, they could have when he was vulnerable on the ground, in the cell but they didn't. Maybe they sought opportunity, peace succeeding in the most unexpected source. Zim sees he could gain, with this opportunity also. He wouldn't have to kill anything and gain extra protection too if the Empire betrayed him again. Zim made his choice and nodded.

"I will do it." Zim said to the Meeks. Their eyes seem to pop and they bobbed upward excited Zim accepted the truths.

"We are forever grateful." Nosaer said, "You are always welcome to Mars. Perhaps one day we will make peace with Earth."

"I'll put in a good word." Zim said playfully.

"I shall teleport you to Meekrob when you're ready." Nosaer told him.

"I am after one more question." Zim said then glance to Doswim. "Doswim, I'm curious, what was it that set me on the right path, the path that saved my life?"

"That you can answer yourself." Doswim did not clarify. It puzzled Zim he wasn't so lucid, secretive almost maybe the answer was easier than he realized.

"I'm ready." Zim said to Nosaer. Nosaer closed his eyes and a bright white surrounded and engulfed Zim in the hot energy. Immediately, the light vanished and found knelt on tan colored sand. Zim stood up lingering thoughts of what set him on the right path. He walked by the empty city of enchanting structures now left in ruins and barren.

Zim wandered into the desert finding his hidden truth. The wind blew upon him but didn't affect his inner self. What did he do to put him on the right path? Did he sacrifice his former life to be among the humans? Before that, before he found happiness he was trapped self loathing the horrible abandonment. Not even Dib, or his family could pull him out of it. He didn't even consider them his family. Something did enter his life which changed his sense of worth, desire to live and be happy. The day he met Mary. Without her help, he would never made up with Dib during his fight, never met any of his friends and be treated normally with their acceptance. He was happy living on Earth when the Tallests called and ruined it. What if he wasn't happy? He could have eagerly taken on the mission. Without Mary's influence, it would have killed him. If he didn't open his mind and lack sympathy, they would have killed him instead of agreeing to truths. Zim was enlightened he change for the better and grateful he made the right choice. The easy part was over, now he has to convince the Armanda the Meeks are dead.

He would have to play the most serious role in his life. His years of lying will be put to the test.

Passing the chasm he devised what he was to say and react. He entered the ship into the cockpit, buckled up and began lift off. Zim broke out of the atmosphere into space Zim inching to the satellite platform.

Zim landed in the spot set for him and got out of the spaceship. He marched to the research facility to face Tak with his "discovery". When he came into the room from the long corridor, Zim had a disturbed scowl scarring his face. Tak witness the temper and barked as such.

"What happened soldier?" Tak questioned Zim. "We lost connection with you. We thought you were dead."

"I was not." Zim said matter of fact. "I did as you said, I disarmed them, I shut off their power and they…" Zim mumbled.

"Speak up, soldier." Tak commanded.

"They're dead, they're all dead!" Zim shouted. Tak gazed disbelief.

"What?"

"You heard me, when I switched off the power; I saw them evaporated before my very eyes. They turn to gush and dripped into the sand becoming horrible puddle of mush. Eventually their organs and blood disappeared into the sand."

Tak was awestruck what Zim told him. The scientists even stopped and stared.

"You got what you wanted." Zim said bitterly. "The planet is yours at the price of their lives. I'm going home." Zim turned around true to the final word. He was returning home. He did not want to stay here any longer. He marched out of the corridor outside the platform to his ship. Just then, exhaustion hit him. So much has happened. The adrenaline faded and weigh on him. With the ounce of energy, he opened the latch, shut it and landed on his cot. He hit his head on the oxygen tank but it didn't bother him much.

"I should rest," Zim reasoned. "I can't leave like this." And without second thought he shut his eyes and snoozed.

Zim awoke to a startling surprise. Someone was watching, another Irken wearing a high collar over coat suit stared at him frighten too by Zim's reaction. The Irken was one of the Massive staff. Zim sat up quickly and addressed as thus.

"What are you doing here?"

The wide eye Irken can tell he's irritated but had to relay the message.

"The Tallests want to speak with you." He said. Zim relaxed his tension.

"How long have you been standing here?"

"Not very long, three hours. You were out of commission."

"You could have waked me." Zim said but the Irken blinked once and didn't say a word. Zim guessed he never saw another Irken slept.

The Tallest invited Zim to the Massive. He wondered if he should accept or turn it down but if he decline they could see it suspicious and he is under their commands. Maybe they wanted more "details" of his method. Then he was conflicted of his mother's advice to leave at once but his hands are tied. Whatever the case he had to go and see them one more time before he can rid them out of his life.

He stood up and directed to the small Irken.

"I'm ready." Zim said and he nodded. Zim and the Irken messenger boy shuffled out of his spaceship and went to the Massive. They were teleported inside and walked from the control center through the long hallway. Zim didn't think he would be here again.

The Messenger Irken brought Zim to a particular room. It hung prideful banners of the Irken flag. He has been here before when introduce to his peers of the Meekrob mission but was on the other side, on the stage. It was fitting, Zim thought, this will be where his conquering career ends. In the audience and presence of the Tallests, they began his journey. Zim stepped into the excessively large room. Above them, sat Red and Purple in separate chairs across one another from a levitating circular table.

Zim kept his expression stern and calm not giving away any sign of annoyance or hatred. When Zim and the messenger drew near, Red and Purple stood floating from their seats.

"What took you so long?" Red shouted. "You know we have been waiting!" Zim thought he was screaming at him until he noticed the Irken cowering Red booming his voice at the Irk.

"Sorry, My Tallest I-"

"What excuse can you give us?" Red continues the melodrama hissy fit. "You had to deliver him and it took you three hours. I can't overlook unpunctual behavior. You shall be punished. One year in-"

"Wait!" Zim shouted. Red paused while Purple passed an intriguing glance. "I was responsible for the tardiness."

"Why am I not surprised?" Red said and then directed his attention to the petrified Irken. "Alright, you can leave."

The Irk wasted no time and ran the heck outta there. Red glared at Zim.

"Why did you delay our meeting?" Red asked.

"I was sleeping." Zim simply said. Red and Purple halloo out laughter. Their laughing echoed throughout the large room.

"Sleeping, sleeping!" Purple repeated between each gasp. The laughing got to Zim.

"Yes, sleeping," Zim shouted. He didn't find it as funny as the Tallests. "That's what you do if you don't have a Pak."

Red and Purple settle down and stared at Zim.

"Why am I here?" Zim asked.

"It's from our understanding you're planning to leave still after we accepted you." Red pronounced what he learned from Tak's report.

"Yes, I conquered Meekrob and watched a civilization dissolve before me. My business is done here." Zim said.

"No, not yet." Red said and Purple chimed in.

"You want to shoot first in the Organic Sweeping Ceremony?"

"There's no point. There's nothing left."

"Maybe little critters? We don't like pests." Purple sounded a little disappointed.

"Believe me, I know." Zim said with great resentment. "Then do it without me. I'm going home, to Earth." Zim turned away yet Red zoomed over him.

"Zim, this is your home, here with us." Red said kindly. "It's where you belong. Do you really want to live among a different civilization hiding your identity?"

"I don't need to hide who I am." Zim said. "I have people who really care and accept me. I don't know what you doing or why you're convincing me to stay. I thought you guys would enjoy it if I did go."

"We would-" Purple blurted but Red jumped in.

"Just not on these terms."

"And what 'terms' are these?" Zim rise up challenging Red's wits.

"How about you return to say goodbye and maybe bring your mate and live on Irk together."

Zim muse it over and made up his mind.

"I love her too much to have her go through what I've been through. She would not be happy even if our children were raised on Irk they would not have the childhood she wanted for them. I cannot accept that offer." Zim walked away until...

"Children? Zim, you can't have children."

Zim ignored it as a hateful comment then Purple shouted:

"The males are sterile!"

Zim quickly turned around alarmed.

"We have been sterile for generations." Red finished Purple's statement. This sparked Zim's curiosity in the most disappointing manner.

"How can this be?"

"We rely on the computers for many things including sperm injection. With our technology improving we rid of the need of mating to further our goals of universal conquests producing more soldiers. We were part of that crop."

"How can you be so fucking stupid!?"

"Our ancestors set the standards. They donated sperm creating our generation."

"What if it runs out, what will happen next?"

They stare at him with the answer written on their faces.

"That's it!" Zim peeped astonished. "That's why you're conquering other planets. Expand our doomed population who can't breed."

"We need resources we can't get on our own. That's why the Invasion must happen! We need their power but you, it's gone now. It's why we are conquering everyone! Be known in history we are the mighty race we are destined to lead. We can't breed and we shouldn't let others."

"That's just sick!" Zim shouted horrified. "You're sick, you are all sick!"

He was foolish sharing something so personal he uncovered a dark secret. It was too much; too much he couldn't face them any longer. Zim ran away from it, away from the demons he used to admire when younger and naive. He ran as fast as he could from one hallway to another. When reaching the control center, he cut in line and teleported out of the ship.

Meanwhile in the assembly hall, Purple was calling the guards but Red stopped him.

"He knows our secret. It could jeopardize everything." Purple told Red.

"He's not coming back, remember?" Red pointed a fact and maybe a certain threat.


	47. Dreary Hearts

Wow, I haven't written this short since I started out.

* * *

It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)

Chapter 47: Cosmos Disturbance: Dreary Hearts

South of Orion, on a planet populated with seas and soil, sun shone through fiber glass feathering into the modest homely chapel. Twenty wooden pew, white walls and a tall picture of Jesus Christ hanging above the alter reflecting the life warming sun. The seating was arranged columns of five, rows in four in the small structured chapel bridged to the orphanage. Between the walk way stood our heroine, praying for the miracle, hoping God will grant her wish. Mary glance up at Jesus, then closed her eyes cupping the locket in her hands crossing her fingers. She mumbled little but its faint. Mary sighed heavy after the blessing. She did this every day, sent out a little prayer for Zim. Her purpose was found in prayer, it was funded on prayer. She could not be there by Zim's side, Mary could only wish he return unharmed. Her train of thought was interrupted by the loud steps echoing up on the floor. Mary turned around and notices Sister Ana behind her. The humble nun smiled at Mary and she encouraged Mary to smile also.

"Having a word with Our Lord? I'm sorry for intruding." Sister Ana expressed. Mary shook her head.

"No, I was done before then." Mary said. Sister Ana furrowed her brows and look to Mary with great concern. Sister Ana sat on the first pew and addressed Mary.

"Sit with me, Mary."

Mary did what she was told and sat with Sister Ana.

"Mary, you have not been yourself. Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine." Mary said in a positive voice. She was fine compare to Zim who's fighting for his life. She let the thought slip and tore down the fake demeanor. Sister Ana notice the worry upon Mary's face and frowned.

"You can talk to me if anything is bothering you." Sister Ana reminded Mary but she didn't say a word, how can she explain what has happened? "Is it Zim?" Mary's eyes darted up at Sister Ana. She couldn't hide the reaction. Sister Ana was spot on and she knew it. "I haven't seen him for awhile. Is something wrong with him you're worrying over?"

Mary knew Sister Ana was determined fishing for the source of her distress and had to give an answer.

"Yes," Mary replied finally giving in. "I'm fretting Zim…Won't pass the eleventh grade."

Sister Ana did not expect this as the cause of Mary's troubles. It down right surprised her.

"Really? Zim didn't pass eleventh grade?" Sister Ana didn't conceive.

"Yes, he's in summer skool making up a class he failed and I'm worried he will be held back…a grade." Mary added in. Sister Ana smiled relieved this was the problem and nothing too serious. She believed the lie.

"Oh, Mary, it's not the end of the world if Zim is held back a grade. He probably needs more time learning the material. You shouldn't worry yourself sick. I'm sure Zim will pass this trial in his life and do well in summer skool."

"You are right." Mary accepted Sister Ana desultory advice. "Thank you," Mary stood up and looked at her watch. "The Presckoolers' nap time is almost up. I'm going to help prepare their snacks."

Mary took no time leaving the chapel. She took a right entering the kitchen. Mary helped Sister Maria carry a tray of graham crackers while she carries the six glasses of milk. When in the children's room, Mary gave each kid two long rectangular crackers and glass of milk while they sat at the table. One of the little girls smiled and thanked Mary.

"Where's Zim?" She asked. Mary looked down at the little girl kicking her legs playfully sitting on the tall chair. Mary hesitated with the answer but she kept it consistent.

"He's at summer skool. Eat your snack, sweetie." Mary said politely and gave the other boy his snack.

It wasn't the first time she was asked about Zim. Lots of kids wondered where he was or is he coming back with more stories for them. She dodged the questions. Now, she has a plausible answer thanks to Sister Ana's snooping into her personal affairs.

Sister Maria asked Mary if she can watch the young ones while she checks on the older children. Mary accepted the duty and picked up the nearest book from the shelf.

* * *

Mary was on her way home after volunteering. She exit out of the orphanage gate and proceed right on the side walk to catch her bus. It's late, she always found herself volunteering until seven lonesome at night. The summer vacation that was supposed to be fun was taken from her due to current circumstances. The one she loves is galaxies away and there's nothing she could do. The idea of waiting, testing her patience saddens her which is why she stays longer in these lonely summer nights. The children and nuns appreciate her presence not knowing the burden this one girl is enduring. She figures it was better they never know. Who is she to put that burden on anyone; especially children. It is why she feels obligated to lie.

She walked along the building feeling the silence. No birds were chirping and fewer cars drove by. It was starting to get dark. Mary listened to each step. Then she heard another, glanced behind her and saw she wasn't alone. There was a boy her age walking a foot between them. Usually, Mary would ignore the stranger and keep walking but not tonight for she noticed the stranger was becoming an acquaintance. Lately, she sees this brunette Caucasian boy wearing the same classy brown jacket and blue jeans almost every day this entire week. First it was at the grocery store, then at the park and frequently when she left the orphanage. The idea of this potential stalker creep her out to the point she became paranoid. Zim told her that there is a possibility his people might spy but would they go so far to keep her on surveillance or was she losing it? She hoped she wasn't losing her marbles but there was one way to find out.

She stopped in her tracks and turned around. The boy stopped walking and looked at her.

"Who are you?" Mary spoke in Irken.

The peculiar boy, who understood her question, smiled at her.

"I see you found me out." The boy spoke English and tugged on the collar of his jacket. "Good job, most people don't catch on to our spying techniques." She propelled on the possible threat throwing questions.

"Who are you? What is it you want? And why are you spying on me?"

"Don't worry," The boy said pulling an envelope out of his pocket. "I'm a friend." The boy took out the card and showed it to her. "See?"

Mary recognized the card, it was the same card she made for a particular alien who given her a special gift.

"Skoodge?" She questioned the identity.

"That's right." Skoodge said placing the card in the envelope then into his jacket.

"You look so…human." Mary said amazed studying his features. He had a soft chin and nice bone structure. He was very attractive.

"Yes, I am equipped with superior camouflage technology choosing any form of human I could change to."

"And you speak English?" Mary said dumbfounded.

"Yes, I was able to download the language on my Pak and speak it fluently."

"I don't understand," Mary admitted. "Why are you here?"

"My Tallests, as we call them, demanded they have an Irken incognito to locate and keep an eye on you. I insisted I took the mission since my experience on Earth and its culture."

"Why do your leaders want to keep an eye on me?"

"You are his mate, correct? His greatest weakness. If he didn't complete the mission we would have to make him suffer."

"And how are you planning to do that?" Mary, afraid to ask.

"Termination." Skoodge gravely spoke. Mary heard his startling word and stepped further back.

"No, no, you're not in danger." Skoodge reached in the attempt to calm her. "That's why I took the mission."

"To kill me?" Mary screamed loud as she can so anyone could help her.

"No, to protect you!" Skoodge screamed. Mary stopped fussing and peered in the green eyes Skoodge chose in disguise. "Please, don't run. I can't harm you."

Mary listen to his plead and ceased any escape. She believed and trusts what he was doing. Skoodge stared at her like he swallowed a burden. Mary gazed at him too while a gust of wind pass between them animating their hair.

"Thank you," Mary said then grinned. "Thanks for your efforts of protecting me. I hope I won't jeopardize your mission and get you in trouble. It's something I wouldn't like you to endure."

"You caught on to me so the mission is a failure. I can live with that. I disabled my communication with intelligence so they never know the conversation between us. I like to be personal." Skoodge paused for a moment while Mary gazed at her guardian angel. Skoodge peered in her eyes and then spoke. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you for a very long time. Since the day you freed me and gave me hope in my bleakest hours. Mary, I love you."

Mary's heart stopped when Skoodge confessed. It really shocked her she couldn't respond. Skoodge filled the blanks.

"You were the first person who actually cared about me, my well being when locked in that horrible cage. I was grateful and developed an instant attraction but didn't realize it until I left and my journey grew long and empty. I never forgot you and how I felt wrapped in your arms. It was warm and welcoming. Nothing I felt before. The more I thought of it the more I wanted to go back to Earth and find you. I'm sick of how cold and unfeeling my world is. I cannot stand the structure or the government ruling under those two. The way they ostracize me because I'm short and pudgy is inexcusable. I want to live here. I want to be with you. When I heard you were Zim's I could not contain my feelings anymore. Forget about Zim and be with me. I can offer you so much than he ever can. I can make you happy and give you everything. Please, choose me."

"I can't." Mary said finally after his outburst. "My heart belongs to Zim. I love Zim too much to consider any of your offers. I appreciate your kind words and they moved me but I love Zim and you cannot change that."

Skoodge sunk low in his spirits and the courage abandoned him leaving frustrations of why he couldn't have the woman of his dreams.

"You're choosing Zim over me?" Skoodge shouted enraged. "You have no idea what he is capable of. You don't know the Zim I grew up with always in trouble, arrogant, uncaring and dangerous. He's reckless and almost killed me on Hobo 13 during training pushing me off a cliff! Into a monster's den!"

"But he saved your life." Mary pointed out. "Does that count for something?"

"Does his reckless behavior count for something?" Skoodge shot the question back at her attempting to sway her. She shook her head.

"I told myself long ago his past misdeeds will not influence the feelings I have with him now." Mary said very stubborn in her emotions. Skoodge could tell she wasn't budging. He lost like so many defeats in his life more sour than the rest. It hit him where it hurts. Mary waited for anything, a response, an apology. He fell silent unable to deliver that.

"I'm sorry. I don't feel that way about you." Mary said genuine and sympathetic.

"But- but you accepted my Gem, my gift. Did that mean anything to you?" Skoodge said desperately for a resolve.

"The Striking Gem is beautiful and is a nice gesture but I fell in love with the man who always defended me, by my side and was there for me. Not the Gem. I didn't know it was a gesture of love. Did Zim know?"

"No and he doesn't know I'm here either." Skoodge said.

"He trusts you," Mary says, "He considers you a friend yet you betray him."

"I had to find out. I took the risk." Skoodge said bitter unable to accept the fault.

"I will have to tell him." Mary said.

"Tell him as you wish." Skoodge said turning away. "My mission is over. I'm returning."

"You're going back?" Mary said shocked.

"Yes, despite my resentment I will return home."

"You can stay here. I still want to be your friend and we can help you settle down. You don't have to go back." Mary offered her help but he didn't seem interested.

"I rather stay unhappy where I am than be in this world where I can't have you." Skoodge stated, "I'm not brave enough to stay in solitude. I doubt Zim would forgive me. Though you rejected me, he was right to put his trust in you. Forgive me for the intrusion. You can keep the Gem so you know I love you."

Skoodge was about to leave until he was reminded of something. He turned back around and pointed at her.

"I was able to track you with the signal around your neck. You should get rid of it." Skoodge warned her and walked away. The broken creature disappeared automatically with a static zap. Mary picked up the locket and opened the latch bearing the satellite disruptor. If what Skoodge said was true, it placed an invisible target on her. Mary picked out the mechanism with her index finger and thumb crumbling it to pieces.

Mary returned home after the encounter. She directly went in the room and sat in the dark staring at the dresser which enclosed her gift. The constant reminder of what happened. Mary stood up and pulled open the dresser drawer. She stares at the glowing colors flashing along the curtains and walls. She held it in her palm and covered it. All that consumed Mary was the disturbing question and guilt she placed on herself.

"Why did he have to love me?"


	48. It's A Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!

Chapter 48: It's a Wonderful Life

The vacuum of space seems thick as Zim's ship accelerated passing the stars. Zim kept this pace steady not swayed to slow down, not after the incident though he was not followed. After a week pass according to Earth time, not once he had seen an Irken ship. Were they not chasing him? Not likely, but it so scary, shocking and invidious he believed knowing this had put him in danger. Zim kept it in mind as a threat and motivation to return home. That, and the possibility he joined forces with the Meeks. They would kill him if they found out.

Is he safe? Does everyone know they're sterile, this so called "secret"? More important, are the Armada invading Earth? The trepidation questions haunted him every waking second.

Zim glanced up at the window then on the controls, his neck and back sniff. His eyes were bloodshot and restless. The breaks he did obtain was futile and the naps lasted for forty minutes tops. He was in no condition to fly but he forced himself. The sooner he got home, he can rest.

Zim stared through the window watching the stars stream by him. He didn't play any music. Zim heard the roar of the engine accelerating. He blinked a few times cleansing his eyes. His mind drifted and eyes lids closed. A qualm came over him and his hands slipped off the controls. He awoke in a millisecond panicking. Zim put one hand on the wheel and other on the lever shifting gears to park. The ship halted movement and bolted Zim out of his seat towards the window. During traveling, Zim forgot to fasten his seat belt and paid the price banging his head inside the windshield. Zim held it where it hurts on the top of his forehead and whined. After groaning, Zim opened one eye and saw no visible damage to the windshield. He considered himself lucky. It could have been worst. Zim made a sensible decision. He is going to rest. He can't fly like this anymore.

He gazed upon the black sky, finding anywhere he can settle. He usually set the ship to park and let it hover but not in this circumstance. His gas was restricted and he was vulnerable if he floated. Zim had to land, find a maroon planet or not disturb residents. Zim found exactly what he was looking for reflected from the distance. The color and shape reminded him of the Earth's moon. He was outside the solar system and almost home. He stared at the gray cold planet lifeless, rounded and opaque. Zim saw no harm landing taking the well deserved break.

Zim pledge full course on the dwarf planet and zoomed down breaking its atmosphere. He expanded the shock absorbers before impact. Zim pulled the lever and parked it with a heave. When turning off the ignition, a fog surrounded the ship like it always has been there. Condensation appeared rapidly on the window. He was alone but solace didn't bother him. He gave in and fell asleep.

* * *

Space is ambiguous, they learned when flying across the Universe. The Tallests knew shot cuts and took them. It was no wonder Zim didn't spot the Massive. It was their intention. The Tallests' plan as they followed the Asteroid Belt like bread crumbs leading them to their conquest of Earth.

In the control center, navigators are very focus on the task flying the ship. And when they were busy, it was the Vermillion slaves' job assisting the Tallests. They sat above everyone in their floating thrones. On a silver platter, a Vermillion put two plastic cups with straws and pours the beverage in the cups. She pushed it in a way it hovered between the two. No recognition of her action or pleasant comment. The Tallests took their drinks and quench thirst temporarily. Eyeing Earth over Mars' horizon, Purple was perplexed when he saw a white streak pass the red planet towards them.

"What's that?" Purple shouted pointing. Purple assumed Red seen it and he did.

"It's Agent Skoodge returning from his mission." Red explained.

"Oh," Purple said. "Send Tak to greet him."

"I already did." Red said peeved. "I sent her fifteen minutes ago. You were here when I gave her the order."

"Sheesh!" Purple hissed, "I don't know what you doing every second of every day." Red ignored Purple and watched the ship arrive closer to Mars.

Meanwhile at the docking station, Irkens released the teleporter cord connecting it to the guest's ship. A beam traveled from the ship into the Massive. Skoodge resurrected onto the teleporting pad. Meeting him, Tak saluted Skoodge and he did the same. He was back to his original form wearing his gray suit disowning the human one. Tak, at ease, addressed him.

"The Tallests want to speak with you."

"I see," Skoodge said then walked beside her. Skoodge was melancholic and derailed by rejection. He kept quiet until he noticed Tak grew a few inches. Her status changed.

"Did you grow taller?"

"I'm the Advisor for the Tallests." Tak boasted.

"Oh," Skoodge yelped a healthy Irken chirp. Skoodge discontinued conversations with Tak and followed to the control center. Tak and Skoodge semicircle around the Tallests and faced them.

"Skoodge, come forth and tell us of your research." Red greeted and ordered. Skoodge took steps standing before both Tallest Red and Purple.

"Sirs, the mission was a failure." Skoodge said. "The target discovered my ruse and I had to fall back before she realized our plan."

"It doesn't matter." Red easily let go. "We are continuing Operation Impeding Doom 2 on planet Earth."

"What?" Skoodge said shocked.

"The ravishes of Meekrob left the victory empty and meaningless."

"The Meeks died." Purple stated. "What's up with that?"

"That's why we decided on carrying our conquest for Earth. Maybe they can offer us what Meekrob didn't."

"Like a good show." Purple commented, "Something worth the effort."

Skoodge look up on the power hungry blood lust leaders in dismay and bowed his head. Helpless, he marched off and stood by Tak. Tak watched the Massive creep towards the blue ocean and patchy land planet. Upon the reflection from the window, Tak witness Skoodge's tears trail from his eyes. He didn't squirm. He stared at the Earth like he's in a trance. Tak had no clue what was the matter but the sadness played a part in the guilt. They had an agreement she remember what Zim said.

'We got Meekrob.' Tak thought, 'Why would we need Earth?' Tak felt this was another mess they were becoming involved. Breaching an agreement is asking for trouble. It was dishonorable on her terms but what can she do? The Tallests sealed everyone's fate.

Skoodge stared at the window then himself facing the dark epiphany. There's no escape. He was doomed to live this life forever. The Earth will be destroyed and so will she. The girl he loves. Zim couldn't protect her and save them. How could he? Skoodge was distraught and numb to his voracious leaders talking behind him off drift in another world. The conversation continues as such:

"I personally like to organically sweep this pathetic planet myself." Red snapped his fingers and the Vermillion servant gave him the remote button for the organic sweep cannon. Purple saw he possessed it.

"Why do you get to shoot the cannon?" Purple whined.

"Because _I_ came up with the idea." Red semitone emphasizing I. Purple crossed his arms and grant Red unwilling permission. Everyone watched the window another victory was occurring. Tak saw it as an awful distraction. Skoodge watched it like a light bulb losing its glow. They waited. Nothing happened. A huge crash hit the floor. The plastic cup bended and spilled everywhere and looking up at the Tallest whom dropped it, the Vermillion woman screamed. Red's body was convulsing. He was shaking like he couldn't contain it. Everyone stopped and watch Red's limbs quiver, eye twitching erratic. His lips moved but didn't speak or no one understood a single word.

Then out of his seat, Purple leaped and his feet touched the floor; the first in a very long time. Purple turned around but he didn't look or notice Red. He bobbed his head up and down glancing swiftly in the room. He panted then shouted.

"No! No! I don't deserve to die!" Purple screamed and waved his arms. Skoodge witness the implication of danger. The Pak missing from Purple's back.

"Sir!" Tak shouted. "Put on your Pak!" But he wasn't listening. He was distracted and frightened.

"I was following him!" Purple pointed to Red breaking slightly into reality for a split second and carry on deranged. "Spare me! Spare me! Get away from me! Help! Help me! Somebody help me!"

Tak heed his cries and bounced on the floating throne using her mechanical legs as a springing step. She picked up the Pak but its tangled mess of cables went limp and the hum from the machine went silent and stopped. In that instant, Purple's screaming ceased followed by a loud thump to the floor falling before Skoodge. He couldn't believe it. Red fell from his Pak and hit the floor. Both Paks remained in the thrones vacant of life and purpose.

A fountain of disarray elevated and overwhelmed the Irken people. They circled, crying, screaming, and asking why, how this happened. The Vermillions saw this as their chance to revolt. They jumped on their handlers fighting which way they can. Tak joined in seeing her comrades swamped. They brought out their mechanical legs to smack off the attack. Skoodge watched in a matter of seconds the chaos broke loose. He heard them shouting, "It was the Vermillions! They are responsible!" He saw each side struggle bumping their ridges together. What can this accomplish? The Vermillions want freedom, they want freedom.

"Stop!" Skoodge screamed and made himself prominent. The Irkens and Vermillions stopped astonished a little guy can scream so loud over the battle. "This is enough! Enough of this!" Skoodge said, "For those who thought they killed them, it was not their fault. We don't know who is responsible but it is not them!"

"They could have poisoned them!" One pointed to the cup on the ground. "After they drank, The Tallests died! They poisoned them!"

The Irkens chattered murder and Skoodge found Purple's cup sitting in the holder on the throne. Skoodge jumped on the throne, picked up the cup and scanned it with his risk. His suit retrieved the contents in the drink. He read his scanning displaying the results.

"It's clean!" Skoodge shouted showing all it was no foul play. They gasped and muttered confusion.

"But why are they fighting us?" One called from the mob.

"Because they want their freedom! We'd fight if we were in the same situation. I was there! I was a trapped prisoner! I know firsthand how it's like to be demeaned, belittled and kept in a cage for days with no hope for survival and they live through it every day they rule under us!" Skoodge leaped upon the solid silver floor. "Do you think it's fair to treat others this way? Will it really help us gain happiness and solve our problems?"

They stare unable to answer the elusive question.

"No!" Someone shouted. They disbanded revealing Tak as that voice. "Slavery won't solve anything. It's all a power play nothing can be achieved by this move." Tak glance into the eyes of the Vermillion surrounding her. "They are people. People like us."

"What will we do?" Others rally worries. "Who will lead us? There is no one Taller than us!"

"We lead ourselves!" Skoodge shouted. "This great tragedy will never be forgotten but we have to move on."

"We have to remain strong and build, rebuild our civilization. Take control of our own destinies." Tak proudly announced.

"And make everything right."Skoodge said. "Starting with them." Skoodge helped a Vermillion stand up from the floor. "We can decide our futures."

The navigators observed something remarkable. The unexplainable death of their leaders brought hope for the first time. They were not afraid.

"Can we go home and bring forth our new order?" One said still unsure what to think of having an opinion.

"How many do you want to go home?" Tak shouted to her peers. Everyone raised their hands. "Then we're going home. We'll investigate the murders, prepare a burial and then decide how we will set our new government."

Navigators went to their stations set way to Irk. The Vermillions were uncertain if they gained their freedom. From the cluster they formed, one left and walked up to Tak and Skoodge.

"Are we free?" It spoke the Irken it learned.

"Not yet but we will fight for your freedom and bring you home." Skoodge promised them. Tak nodded to them and they let out a shriek in joy all the Irkens heard. They gathered around Tak and Skoodge and hugged them. Tak was thrown off by the affection but Skoodge liked it. Skoodge glance to Tak and smiled.

"How's this for a promotion?"

"I like it a lot." Tak said accepting their correlation. Once the excitement swelled down, Tak and Skoodge assigned duties. Tak and Skoodge power down the thrones and claimed it as evidence maybe finding clues in their seats and Paks. They didn't touch it after that. The few Irkens available carried their Tallests' bodies out of the control room and put them in a straight line. Then they covered a huge blanket over them; the ending of their reign.

* * *

Convalescence, Zim returned on his mission home. With time to rest, he was able to conjure rational thoughts and motor skills improved. He was no longer drowsy. The motive was clear. Return home. He questioned the danger of his situation. He hasn't see The Massive or indication the Armada invading. Maybe he didn't uncover a secret and everybody knew their purpose. The news was shocking but how amazing to an everyday Irken Joe upon the Massive overhearing commands? Not very…

He overacted, a natural instinct when frightened but the trauma is over and he had to move forward. He isn't a part of that world anymore. Zim squarely flew by each planet. From the dark depths and mysterious Pluto to the bright, sensational colors of Jupiter, Zim voyage for days remembering to take his breaks of course. Zim took a break to check on fuel. He had a half tank and twenty gallons left. Just enough to get home. The food was at its smallest supply and oxygen levels are good. They really built the ventilation system well so he won't suffocate to death. If it comes to worst, he can use the suit he still wore from the mission. It was snug and adjustable. He liked the goggles because it shields his eyes from shooting star glare. Stars are really annoying when flying in pitch black.

Returning to his seat, Zim has to find a good spot to pass through the Asteroid Belt. From what he learned last time, he will not overlook it and be pummeled. Zim waited until he seen a gap and entered the outer belt. Zim kept his speed low and watched for any threatening large asteroids. Most of the ones Zim crossed turn to dust when hit on the ship so Zim was able to easily glide through the belt.

Zim stopped and looked back at the belt confused. This was the second time Zim crossed the Asteroid Belt unharmed.

"How come I was hit with the larger asteroids when I joy ride on Mars?" Zim looked at the navigation computer and saw three separate streams of asteroids outside the belt. One contained larger mass than others. "Because I challenged him in the most dangerous belt. That was stupid." Zim finally proclaimed, reset the navigation screen and flew towards Earth. Zim was very close and knew it when he saw Mars. Zim wanted to visit the Meeks and see how they are adjusting but he was too eager about returning home. He had to put it off.

"I think they would understand." Zim spoke and passed by the red planet before his ship was attracted to Mars gravitational pull. Earth was in his sight and he was very happy. He increased speed at the highest velocity and zoomed by the moon.

"Finally home!" Zim smiled his journey was over. Zim picked the northern hemisphere, right over North America in the heart land to enter the atmosphere. Everything was smooth until he felt a shaking on the right side. Zim looked out the windshield and saw the unthinkable. The right wing was tearing off the ship. Zim acted fast and lower the speed trying to save the wing but the force was already too great and the metal framed plastic wing ripped off like paper. Zim pressed his right foot on the pedal trying to regain balance but the ship spin out of control. Zim held tight, buckled to the seat and prayed, prayed he wouldn't die and live through this ordeal.

The force came and crashed with contact from the Earth. The front buried deep in the ground and the vibration. The crash shattered the windshield darted towards Zim. He covered his face quickly with his arms and the glass scratched his arms, hands and forehead. The seat belt constrained and yanked Zim when it came to a final stop.

Zim's muscles ached as his lap was covered with broken glass. He tried to move then realized his legs were pinned between his seat and control board. He carefully, slowly removed each limb pushing his cushion down creating a crack freeing him. He noticed his surroundings then he saw him. A stranger stared at him outside the ship. He was a big man wearing a bright orange vest and camouflage shirt and pants holding a rifle in his arms. One glance at the stranger, the man screamed dropping his rifle and ran away still screaming his throat hoarse.

"Wait, come back!" Zim stood up and shouted. "I don't know where I am."

Watching the man flee, Zim figured he wasn't going to help him. He crashed in a forest. Looking beneath, he dragged a few trees down with him in the unexpected landing. Zim glance left to right at the surroundings and notice he was covered in a dense forest. Zim, free from his seat, went in the back to salvage everything if any. Fragments of glass fell when he walked and left them.

The supply room was disastrous. The oxygen tanks were scrambled on the titanium floor. One gas can tip over and soaked the cot. He couldn't carry that anyways but what he couldn't let go was it got in his suitcase. He unzipped his suitcase and it was soaked and wreaked of the gas too. His clothes were ruined. Lucky, he was wearing something. More so lucky he zipped the most important in his front pouch, his human identity. Zim plopped the wig on his head getting use to the texture again. He packed other things in there like his contacts, his ointment but not his cell phone. He had Dib keep it because it was useless in space and die without being charged. Now, he wished he had to call home. He was stuck in the middle of nowhere far as he could comprehend. Zim could not stay either. The gas proved his present place dangerous. Zim return to the cockpit and found the stereo busted. Then he found what he was looking for. The yearbook his sweetie gave him.

"At least this survived the impact." Zim said looking for another thing. "But I don't know where my journal is. Must have fallen out while landing."

Zim finds it cumbersome carrying contacts, a yearbook and other supplies alone in his arms so he thought of an idea since he was wearing the adaptable suit. He focused his mind and repeated to himself.

"Backpack, backpack, backpack…" He felt it form and the straps come together like intersecting vines and created a backpack. Zim never felt so impressed in his ability to create a backpack. Zim picked up a strap and swung it off his shoulders. He packed the book, ointment and contacts. Zim kept on the goggles since it concealed his eyes and he grew quite attached. He thought they made him really cool. Then he went to the back again and gathered crackers, a few juice boxes and trail mix. He left the remains and opened the latch. He jumped off two feet in the air across the three trees his ship sat under and landed on the third one almost slipping. He jumped down again on solid ground. His legs were a bit wobbly constantly sitting for two weeks and wasn't up for a hike. First he put on ointment over his wounds and they healed. The bruise remains in his forehead. He adjusted and went straight trying to find a trail of some sort. Between several trees later, he found an opening in the forest. He cleared through it and made it out onto dry yellow grass. Zim followed the field with his eyes and noticed a road. As he walked he search left and right for anything. A building, a sign or telephone and found nothing when he approached the long stretching road. He was in the middle of nowhere. He had no recollection of the area so the only plan he thought of is walk until he reached a town or anywhere who has a phone. He marched by the road the sun beaming down on Zim. It was hot and it didn't help he was wearing the constricting armor suit. It's best to wear loose fitting clothes on days like these but again, they were ruined in the crash. Zim watched the humidity dance on the road miles from him. He walked for hours and the road seems to never stop or come close to anything. From the distance, he heard something and turned around. It was a red sports car driving very fast; the first he ever seen on this road. Zim acted quickly and put his thumb resembling finger to good use and stuck it out. He was tired of walking and eagerly hoped the car stopped and help him. The speeding red car passed without a second thought. The attempt to hitch-hike was unsuccessful and he carried on foot.

On the last adventure home, a few other cars drove by. One rolled down its window in front of Zim and threw a plastic soda bottle almost striking him. The not caring attitude disturbed him to the point of depression. No one knew the trouble he went through to keep Earth safe in fact he thinks they will never know. He didn't feel comfortable sharing the tale to strangers who wouldn't believe him anyways. He wanted to be home so badly. The motivation kept him from surrendering to human apathy. He marched one aching foot in front of the other ignoring distractions anything keeping him away from the goal his eyes narrow on the long road.

Suddenly, a huge white cargo truck emerges left of him. The truck halted six feet from Zim. The gust of wind pushed against Zim followed by the effect. Zim was so focused on the road he didn't hear the truck drive up behind but the person must have seen him. Why else would he or she stop? Zim took the lucky break and ran to the kind driver. Zim met the mystery driver at the passenger door a four feet above him. The driver opened the truck door and revealed himself. He was middle aged from the looks alone Zim guessed he was forty. He had dark brown gray hair and deep ridges below his dim eyes like it's been years since he had a good rest. The heavy built stranger with five o'clock shadow looked down at the young lad traveling by himself perplexed. He addressed Zim in a strong, booming voice.

"What's a kid like you doing out here?"

Zim struggled with the answer.

"My…Car broke down and I'm lost and I don't know where I am." Zim told the man. The elder shook his head.

"You're supposed to stay with your vehicle in situations like these or you will get lost."

"I forgot my phone so I didn't know what else to do." Zim shouted the explanation. The man turned his head on the road like he was thinking then back on Zim again.

"Where are you going?" The man asked him.

"Chicago." Zim stated the destination. The man smiled at the coincidence.

"That's where I'm going. Where at?"

"City Central." Zim said smiling too. "I live around that area."

"Hop in." The man offered. "I'll give you a lift."

"Thank you!" Zim gratefully accepted his generosity and climbed into the passenger seat. Zim shut the door and moved the backpack on his lap and fastened his seat belt. Upon close encounter, Zim discovered new attributes of the stranger like his musky smell. His skin was pasty except for his left tan arm the sun baked golden brown. The man looked head to toe at Zim curious.

"What are you wearing?" He asked. Zim pondered what to say and found no conclusion. Only this.

"What are you wearing?" Zim reflected the question. The man looked down at his mustard stained T-shirt and dirty jeans.

"Good point." The man agreed and left Zim's armor suit alone. "The name's Vern."

"Mine is Zim." Zim greeted Vern. Vern put his truck in drive and returned on the interstate heading towards Chicago. Zim peered out the window and saw them moving. The road seeming less longer than Zim stomping the concrete each endless mile.

"Nice goggles." Vern complimented. Zim almost forgot he was accompanied by Vern.

"Thanks," Zim peeped.

"Where'd you get them?" Vern asked.

"They are…Custom made. I made them." Zim said a half truth.

"I see." Vern said not expressing disappointment but Zim knew he liked them. None exchanged words in the quiet truck. Vern didn't play music while he drove. Zim seeped in the torn upholstery of the bottom seat left Zim's knee stuffing sticking out, the dull brown dash board and glove box and lame rockin' Elvis doll shaking singing in a plastic microphone. Zim held his backpack like a comfort in the new environment and watched the puffy clouds from the distance float slowly when they, themselves are traveling sixty miles per hour. Something glimmered in him, the sudden realization of Zim's success.

"I made it." Zim muttered. Vern glanced at him for a split second and then on the road. Zim never took his eyes off the blue sky he loves then shut them.

Zim awoke in the same scenery inside a bumpy truck, Vern driving him and the same blue sky through the clear windows and windshield glass. Zim sat up from the sleepy slump. Vern seen he's conscience.

"You dozed off for a while." Vern said, "You're lucky I'm an honest man, not to scare you or anything."

Zim became a little embarrassed he fell asleep in Vern's company.

"Sorry, I must have been more tired than I thought." Zim apologized.

"No worries, you had a hard day with your car breaking down. I understand, we all been there." Not where Zim has been but he'll let Vern believe it. "We are about forty miles away from Chicago." Vern announced.

"Was I really that close?" Zim stated surprised Vern snorkeled.

"Well, you were a state away where I picked you up in the middle of Iowa." Vern said, "You might want to keep that in mind when you tell the tow man where to get your car."

"Right," Zim said though he may leave it as it is.

"Where were you going anyways?" Vern asked.

"I was returning home after my trip."

"From where?" Vern asked. Zim realized the discreet man was being nosy. He couldn't pinpoint a location on the top of his head.

"Nowhere in particular." Zim said. "Just had something I needed to do."

"Oh, taking care of unfinished business. I get you but what does a kid like you need to do?"

"I rather not discuss it." Zim spat out. Zim inched away from Vern putting his elbow on the car door silting it up to hold his chin in his hand. Vern sense tension appears with meddling.

"I overstepped my boundaries, I'm sorry." Vern said, Zim sighed. It really wasn't his fault Zim thought.

"No, I can't really explain what I've been through." Zim left it at that and planned keeping it that way.

"Did you do what needed to be done?" Vern asked still curious of Zim's situation.

"I don't know." And that was the truth. Zim didn't know if he resolved anything. Zim kept his eyes gazing out the window.

"You have a family, right?" Vern asked the down and depressed humanoid alien.

"I do," Zim said, "That's where I'm going home to my family, my friends and my girlfriend. I just wish I didn't have to leave them in the first place and go on that stupid journey."

"That's life for you," Vern said. "It's going to throw you a couple of curve balls but was the journey that bad?" Zim turn his head intrigued. "I mean, you did what you had to do. And if not, you tried your best. It's all you can really do and you're returning home. I'd say it's a successful journey but what do I know? I'm an old, wise trucky who's job is several journeys driving to location to location and don't know where I'm going until I get paid." Zim didn't know what to say. He was humbled by the efficacious advice. "Buck up, kid!" Vern shouted and patted his shoulder. "You're almost home."

Zim had a lot to ponder, mostly Vern's advice. Though the trip was difficult and caused turmoil, it was worth it! He knew where he stands and learned why operation Impeding Doom began but that didn't matter because he disowned it. He met his mother and the Meeks and if he didn't help they were surly doomed. Now Earth has an ally if they are willing to and Zim intends keeping the peace even if he has to go to D.C. and be a negotiator. It could have gone worse quickly, he could have never return home but he kept his wits and proceed when it seems hopeless. He was glad he went on the journey because now he has a future and can move forward.

Zim saw what he dreamed for months; glimpse of home. The tall buildings formed when Vern drove closer to the metropolis. Vern merge on the freeway and joined the steady traffic of everyone getting in the city. It wasn't until they seen City Central exit they merged to the left and entered Zim's hometown. Zim recognized the buildings around him and knew exactly where he was. He told Vern excited and urgently and Vern found a gas station where he could pull into. Vern parked the truck and switched gears having it immobile.

"Well, end of the line." Vern laughed.

"Thank you," Zim said soft spoken. "I really do appreciate what you done for me. I wish I could repay you."

"There's no need." Vern declined. "A good deed is award enough."

Zim didn't believe it was enough for his help and kind words when he was down. He knew how to repay him even taking the risk to do it.

"But I must," Zim said then unzipped his backpack. "Because you taught me something," Zim continued as he took out his contacts. Vern glanced at the contacts then at Zim. "Life may throw you curve balls, as you may say, but the experience will stick with you for a lifetime." With that cue, Zim slipped off the goggles revealing his red eyes. Vern immediately screamed a loud shrill but Zim expected so much he put on the contacts without delay, place the goggles on the dash board, open the door and jumped out of the truck onto the pavement. He ran after the hop from the gas station a couple of blocks and made a sharp left turn. He stopped for a moment to breathe. The excitement accelerated the adrenaline he had to take a moment and relax. He was human now, he had to act natural. Zim leaned onto the store's wall and pretended he was loitering. Then when the moment passed, he blended in part of the crowd.

It was eerie being among people. He traveled alone for such a long time he adjusted to it. He knew he'll get use to it soon like before; it will take some time as he walked upon the sidewalk. Zim glance at a face. A woman and small child walked by him. The mother held his hand. The child turned around looking at Zim. Zim smiled at him and the child smiled too and resumes walking with his mother. Zim scanned where he was to any landmark he seen in the truck to the direction home. He was lost again in the city, this time he had experience and knew what to do in these situations. He had to find a way to call home. Zim gazed around and saw almost all the lavish, decorated expensive retail stores had no solicitors printed on their door windows. He guessed they would turn him down even if he bought a fancy sweater. Zim continued further with any luck he might find a police station and borrow their phone. Then he looked up and recognized a street he been on before. The road leading to the park and they have payphones.

"Perfect!" Zim said aloud and turned left on that road. He approached the park and arrived across the street. It was beautiful day. Every nature lover having a good time with family and friends were there. Zim walked along the path trying to remember where the payphones were. Then he saw them next to the restroom and benches. Not the ideal place but he'll take it. Zim rushed on the path thrilled to hear his friends' voices. He wanted to call his best friend Dib and let everyone know he's safe and celebrate. He wanted to call them all but was limited on change. Zim knew Dib would handle it. Zim arrived at the first of the three booths from the outer corner overshadowing the restrooms. Zim picked up the phone off the handle then stopped. He saw something he didn't think was real. His imagination must be tricking him, just a city mirage creating his desires. It couldn't be her but the resemblance was uncanny. The big brown eyes stared back at him, curly red hair dancing in the wind and her small statue standing five feet away. People, if any notice, walk by them as they stared at each other bewildered. Zim slowly let the phone down, lowering it to his hip.

"Mary?" Zim uttered if maybe the girl resembling his lover could hear him. The girl started to cry and rushed to Zim, the heart shaped golden locket reflecting off her pastel pink blouse around her neck. "It is her! Mary!" He called out.

"Zim!" Mary cried and ran in Zim's arms. The sensation of an embrace he almost forgotten until he felt Mary's warmth embracing him. He touched her head and touched the soft curls he loves. Her hands hugged his back. He was so overwhelmed looking into her tearful glistening eyes he cried too. Their smiles were like anything few have seen. They said nothing and can say nothing. Zim put one hand on her cheek and upon her neck, leaned down and kissed her while Mary stood on her toes. They stood in that embrace like a millennium went by. After the sweet kiss, Mary stood on solid ground though her mind was floating in the clouds. She blushed looking up at him and smiled. The tears dried and absorbed her misery.

"Welcome home." Mary said.

"It's good to be home." Zim smiled too acting modest hiding the amazing thrill inside. Mary giggled and he remembered he loves her laugh. He held her hand and tugged it to sit with him on the bench. Mary eagerly complied sat on the wooden bench. When he sat, Mary leaned over and kissed him three more times on the cheek.

"I missed you so much." Mary chirped. She was definitely mirthful. Zim kissed her forehead.

"I missed you too." Zim admitted.

"How was it? Did you help invade Meekrob? When did you land? Where did you land?" Mary was bouncing with questions he had a hard time keeping up. Zim lightly pressed his finger on her lips.

"I'll answer them soon when I meet the others. For now, I need to call my family and let them know I'm here." Zim said gently. Mary nodded understanding.

"Of course," Mary said, "If I can wait for you, I can wait for the stories a little longer. You can borrow my phone." Mary grabbed her cell phone from her blue shorts and hand it to Zim. Mary wrapped her arm around Zim's while he made the call for Dib.

Dib sat at his desk watching funny videos with Computer when his phone rang. He checked the caller ID to see Mary's calling. He was slightly annoyed. He accepted the call.

"Mary, I don't have any other good pictures of Zim. Ask Tina. She has plenty."

"Hello, Dib." Zim stretched out. Dib froze on the spot. "I did not know you were taking unflattering pictures of Zim. I thought you gave that up years ago."

"Zim, is that, is that you?" Dib stuttered getting out of his seat ear pressing on the cell phone.

"Yep and I really miss your sweet whiny voice." Zim said.

"Where are you?" Dib shouted. The shriek made Zim's antenna twitch.

"I'm at Central City Park with Mary." Zim said, "Come pick me up and tell everyone to come to your house. I like to tell everyone of my travel and I'm sure they're curious."

"Yeah, sure, I'm curious too. Don't go anywhere! We will be there! I'll tell everyone!" Dib hung up and their conversation ended. Zim gave her the cell phone. By that time, Mary sat straight up and looked at her hands. She appeared troubled. Mary stared at him with a face that could break a weak soul.

"Zim, there's something we need to discuss." Mary said stern. Zim changed his blissful attitude and became serious. Mary paused for the moment, inhaled a deep breath and let it out. "Skoodge came to visit me while you were away." Mary said it. Zim appeared puzzled.

"Skoodge? Why?" Zim shouted.

"He said they sent him to spy on me in case you refused the mission but I found out it wasn't the only reason why." Mary paused briefly. "He said he loves me."

"What?" Zim shouted stunned.

"But I told him I wasn't interested and I love you." Mary added in and placed her hand on his.

"That little- I can't believe he would- He really confessed he loves you?" Zim finally made a complete sentence from the muddle. Mary nodded. "I told him I love you when I gave him the card." Zim felt betrayed and angry. "Why would he do this to me?"

"Skoodge told me he had to resolve his feelings and I resolved it for him by turning him down. Zim, I'm sorry this angers you but I had to tell you otherwise it will be buried and kept secret. I don't want to keep this from you. I doubt he'll try again."

"He better not or I will-" Zim put his fist in his palm grunting. Mary placed her hand on his hands and lowered them to his lap. "I thought he was my friend."

"You have plenty of friends who care about you including me." Mary said then picked up the locket around her neck and opened it to the touch. She showed Zim a heart shaped picture of him inside the locket. His demeanor softens and humbled. He admired the greater love Mary expressed her loyalty and courageous to tell him the truth.

"I'm lucky I have you." Zim said. "I love you."

"I love you too." Mary said and they embrace in a hug. Zim sat with his beloved watching the majestic trees sway to the wind. The warm summer sun basting his skin and the birds randomly chirping among kids playing in the park. It was nice Zim thought and he was glad he enjoyed this bit of summer. Zim heard a sudden screech which literally stopped birds singing and he knew who screamed. Zim stood up and saw Dib running towards him.

"Dib?" questioned because he wasn't sure it was him. He didn't wear black on a single part of his body. He wore a white Tee, blue shorts exposing his chalky legs and sandals. Zim did recognize his face and out of this world trademark hair sickle and smiled. Dib stopped in his tracks when he saw Zim and screamed.

"Zim! It is you, you crazy jerk!"

Dib was so happy he ran up and hugged him smothering Zim in the white T-shirt. Zim realized Dib's true strength when Dib's arms were constricting him. Didn't help his muscles were achy from the crash.

"Dib," Zim gasped. "You're squeezing too hard!"

"Oh," Dib said and let go. "Sorry." From the corner of his eye, Zim saw Membrane wheezing as he ran and Gaz not far behind him.

"Slow down, Son." Membrane called down. "He's not going anywhere."

Zim smirked looking at the out of shape scientist.

"I'm not planning to go anywhere unless you're throwing me a parade and placing me in a convertible waving at people."

Membrane had no comment and surprisingly hugged Zim too. Zim thought he was a handshake kind of guy but the hug was nice too. The hug was not very constricting like Dib's.

"Welcome home, Son," Membrane said then released him. Gaz smiled at Zim considerate he returned.

"Where's the ship?" Dib asked glancing around.

"Crashed somewhere in Iowa."

"Are you okay?" Dib said alert.

"Does it look like I'm internally bleeding?" Both Dib and Membrane gave Zim a hard look. "I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!" Zim waved the possibility he popped in their brains away. Mary smiled shyly knowing he was kidding. Dib peered over Zim's shoulder seeing Mary sitting on the bench.

"Mary, when did you get here?"

"She's been here the whole time." Zim answered her question. "I used her phone to call you, remember?"

"That's right." Dib recalled.

"You guys looked so cute the way you hugged Zim." Mary commented. It embarrassed Dib he stated thus.

"Real men are not afraid to express their feelings, right Dad?"

"Just me, Son, not you." He said.

"What?" Dib turned around. Membrane smiled.

"Just Kidding!" Membrane said. Zim busted out laughing.

"I missed you guys so much!" Zim exclaimed. "When on the space center, everyone was a stick in the mud. I haven't had a good laugh in months. I almost died several times."

Zim expressed in such a good mood it really disturbed Dib, Membrane and Mary. Gaz smirked along with Zim understanding his twisted sense of humor.

"Well," Zim said stretching his arms. "What are we waiting for? I wanna see my goofball robots and my friends."

Zim marched forward like he knew where they parked. He obvious don't but Dib, Membrane, Gaz and Mary walked beside him and pointed him in the right direction. They all squeezed into Membrane's car. Gaz in front passenger sitting next to her Dad and Dib, Zim and Mary scrunched together in the back. Dib filled Zim in he called everyone to meet at his house. When entering the driveway. Tina's car was parked along their yard waiting. Tina, Josh and Brian stood in the brown grassy yard among them, Jack Hollander and Greg, the carpenter.

Immediately Josh, Tina, and Brian rushed to see him. The car stopped and Zim opened the door and pounced on him with a welcoming embrace. Zim stood only for a second when Tina grabbed him first crying following Josh and Brian. They didn't cry but expressed how much they cared.

"You made it back in one piece!" Josh shouted. "You are awesome!"

"Yeah," Brian agreed, "Good to have you home."

"Oh Zim!" Tina sobbed. "You are the greatest alien ever!"

"Thanks guys," Zim said. Mary, Dib and Membrane stood beside them speechless relishing the moment. Gaz glance at it once and walked to the house. Jack Hollander and Greg went over towards Zim and everyone.

"Well I'll be." Jack said amazed. "You actually came back."

"Of course he came back." Tina said and released him. Brian and Josh recoiled too. "He's our friend and friendship matters to Zim."

"I'm sure it does." Jack said.

"Why else would he?" Greg smiled.

"Zim, I can't wait to hear your adventure." Jack said eager.

"Me too, I can't wait to tell it. Once, only once." Zim said, "So let's all get inside and-"

"Zimmmmm!" Screamed a static voice.

Zim spied to the distance at Gir and Minimoose racing towards him from the house. Gir bounced into Zim's arms unannounced but it was alright. Zim recognized when Gir leaped. Minimoose floated level to Zim's face and squeaked. Gir squeezed all his little arms can handle.

"Hello, Zim!" Minimoose squeaked. "I missed you so much. I'm happy your home." Zim stare in shock and shook his head checking he was hearing right.

"You can speak?" Zim asked.

"Professor Membrane modified me with a language program. I can speak forty two different languages."

"Indeed I did." Membrane spoke. "While I was fixing Gir, I thought I give Minimoose an upgrade too. What do you think?"

"Outstanding, I always wondered what you were thinking." Zim said staring at Minimoose.

"You don't hear what I'm thinking." Minimoose corrected Zim. "I keep my private thoughts to myself. I'll only say what need to be said and not what I think."

"I spoke to soon." Zim said not so enthusiastic. "What about Gir?" He asked looking down at the little guy.

"Oh, he," Membrane said furrowing his brows. "He was a challenge but Gir's improvements are phenomenal."

Gir smiled the same silly grin then his head jerked up and he leaped out of Zim's arms. Gir digitally morphed in his green dog suit, got on all fours and remained still. A passer by walked on the sidewalk. Zim gawked at Gir and then to the man. The neighbor felt rather uncomfortable everyone staring at him without saying hello. When he walked out of distance, Gir was back on two feet and changed into a his robot form.

"Wow, I've been trying to get him to act like a dog for years!" Zim exclaimed.

"He has a human disguise changing into a small child too." Membrane stated.

"Sweet!" Zim shouted amazed.

"I'm smarter." Gir said but before Zim could praise, Gir morphed into a dog again when a red jeap parked at the curb. Leena got out of the car and Gir switched to normal and ran to the girl. Gir stopped inches from her recognizing the personal space program with acquaintances.

"Hello," The robot kindly greeted Leena.

"Hello, Gir," Leena said walking in the driveway. Zim was curious why Leena attended their get together. Does she know, thought Zim.

"Oh, hello, Leena," Zim said awkwardly. "Um, nice day we're having."

"It is beautiful. Perfect landing weather." Leena stated. "Did you land somewhere safe?"

"Zim, she knows everything." Dib jumped in.

"You blabbed!" Zim accused Dib.

"No, Gir did," Dib said, "But I explained it."

"It's alright," Leena said. "I want to hear about your amazing space adventure if that's okay."

"Sure," Zim nodded. Professor Membrane insisted they proceed into the backyard since the living room can't hold their party and the den is in a middle of renovation into a conference room. It has not been completed so to the backyard they went. Opening the gate, they entered where it all began. Dib notice the black grass patches from the liftoff healed and remain brown like the others though nothing happened. Zim chose to sit in the patio chair at the table. Mary sat next to him. Membrane sat opposite of Zim and Greg too. There were no chairs left so Tina, Josh and Brian sat on the grass towards Zim. Dib and Leena sat together on the steps to the backdoor. Jack Hollander stood up leaning on the dark brown fence. Gaz notice the gathering and joined them opening the door, shut it and leaned on the back door. Minimoose floated over Zim and Gir climbed into Zim's lap. Once his listeners were settled, he began weaving his tale.

He began with the long vigorous journey to Meekrob and how he met Tak at the docking station. He told them she was his commanding officer. Dib was shocked of her position and the incredible coincidence. Zim wasn't so pleased like Dib. Dib didn't get punched in the stomach meeting her. Zim mention he met Skoodge too on the station hinting resentment in his tone. Everyone gave him weird looks because he acted like he swallowed a bunch of lemon balls sputtering Skoodge's name but Zim passed over it briefly and return to the calm story telling demeanor. He guessed Mary didn't tell them since nobody cued in about Skoodge.

Zim expressed what he hated more than Skoodge was visiting The Tallests. Zim exclaimed they were exactly as he remembered: Callous, selfish and stupid.

"They didn't tell me why they had in store for Meekrob, but I'll get to that soon."

Zim did mention he met someone he can rely on; his mother who helped cooled his temper reminding Zim the world he had to obey. There was a bubbly chemical reaction saying her name remembering he has a mother who loves him. Zim paused and smiled then drew into the story. Zim authorized Meekrob as a seemingly lifeless small dirt covered planet their sun three times hotter than Earth and sand blowing everywhere. Zim elaborated on the city made of metal sky scrapers, then falling victim to a horrible screeching sound from a ball of light and collapsing.

"I had this awful dream formulated by the Meeks themselves. It's hard to explain and I don't want to recall. The dream revealed the deepest part of me I didn't want to discover. This was the first part of their test."

"First part?" Tina, Josh, Dib and Leena exclaimed. The others remain silent letting Zim continue.

"Yes," Zim said. He explained he became their prisoner for a sort while until he met Nosaer passing the final test leaving the ray gun behind proving Zim's true evictions.

"You left my ray gun on Meekrob?" Dib stood up and shouted. Zim turned around at the bewildered Dib.

"I had to or I wouldn't pass the test. I'm sorry but it had to be done." Zim told Dib. Membrane crossed his arms tapping the right arm with his fingers irritated and curious.

"Since when did you get a firearm, Son?" Membrane asked Dib. Dib paused for a moment then sat down. He quickly snapped his mouth shut and cursed it.

"It was an old relic from my invading days. That thing was more like a toy than a weapon. I sold it to him for fifty dollars." Zim brought Membrane on the trade. This didn't make Membrane ease the disapproving glare.

"I'll talk to you boys about it later." Membrane let go for awhile. "Please continue."

"The Meeks are not like anyone I met," Zim accepting Membrane's request. "They are a whole, a group of people deeply connected by the mind. They read my mind quickly before I could think of it. They knew I wanted peace and forced to be The Tallests' pawn. I did what I thought was best for myself and them or else I could have parish."

"What did you do?" Membrane sounded very worried what Zim did. Zim gazed at Membrane and smiled.

"I collaborated with them." Zim said. Zim told his friends and family the truths he set up between this planet and the Meeks. He explained the Meeks choose Mars as their new home.

"I don't know if you notice but Mars is in its orbit." Zim said.

"We know," Dib said, "Astronomers are baffled why saying Mars expanded its orbit for a short time and returning to its gravitational orbit."

"Expanding orbit," Zim stated, "Right…That's not what happened. It was lost in space until the Meeks returned it to its orbit. It being next to Earth was a coincidence, or was it?" Zim questioned if they set up this arrangement for their advantage. He wondered if they can predict the future too. Zim passed on the theory and explained the deal they agreed upon.

"It was a risk but I did what I thought was best for everyone." Zim stated. Mary squeezed Zim's hand gently and he glanced at her.

"I thought you made the right decision." Mary told him and Zim's insecurity disappeared.

"Zim, this is unbelievable, years ago you would never agree on peace!" Dib exclaimed.

"I changed." Zim simply stated. "They saw that too."

"So you alone lied about the Meeks extinction to protect Earth?" Jack Hollander asked Zim. Zim nodded.

"That's bold and noble. You got me beat." Jack admitted. "I'm surprised it worked."

"They believed it. I'm sure they scanned the planet and saw no life forms." Zim added in.

"You're sure, you don't know?" Jack said.

"I fell asleep."

"You fell asleep? How can you?" Jack questioned.

"You can after what I had to do." Zim didn't like Jack's judgmental tone.

"Relax," Greg intervene. He glanced to Jack. "Give him a break. It turned out for the best."

Jack backed off and let Zim continue the story.

"After the mission, I met with the Tallests once more. They wanted to convince me to stay but I refused. Then they told me of their scheme. The real reason behind Operation Impeding Doom 2, the annihilation of species with thriving population stretching the Irken Empire despite our population flaws."

"Population flaws? What are you saying?"

"The Irken Empire is having a population crisis. They are not reproducing. The birth rate completely stopped. That's why they wanted the Meeks, not their planet, to help fix this crisis. They are the aliens of life." Zim said mystified. This was Zim's conclusion what Red and Purple expressed on their faces when Zim stated if the sperm bank went dry. It did, it did years ago. "I fled realizing this and thought this horrible secret would kill me. They did not follow but my delusions almost defeated me. I crash landed here and I am home. There's nothing more to discuss." Zim ended the tale ominously. Zim's tension increased and Mary did what she can and hugged him. Zim buried his head in Mary's shoulder. He didn't feel like crying. He's stronger than he ever was and a terrible burden uplifted. Gir joined in the hug. Dib patted his back.

"It's okay, Zim," Dib comforted Zim. "You're home now, you're safe."

Zim came out of Mary's embrace and smiled.

"You're right." Zim admitted looking to each of his allies. "I am home and alive." Immediately, Tina, Brian and Josh stood up and gathered in a big group hug. They huddled over Zim like a blanket of support and love. Minimoose hovered and caressed Zim's head. Zim squirmed and whined. "Too many hugs…" His friends laughed hearing Zim's cute plea.

"Awwwww." Gir sighed, "You are the most adorablest!"

They eventually let go and complimented Zim's bravery.

"Okay, who's hungry?" Membrane asked everyone. "Zim, did you have anything today?"

"No, what time is it?" Zim asked Membrane or anyone who knew.

"It's about three o'clock. It's sort of late for lunch."

"I'm not hungry." Zim stated. Membrane didn't push Zim to eat but kept it as a concern. Jack came up to Zim. Zim stood as well, and shook his hand again.

"Sorry for giving you a hard time."

"No worries." Zim forgave the elderly man.

"Anyways, I'm heading out. Thanks again for everything you did. Let me know if you have any trouble." Jack left his assistance. He ended the visit saying goodbye and went out the back gate. Greg lifted from his seat and said he had to get going too because he had a client. Membrane went in the house for moment claiming he will return. When the adults left, Brian Tina and Josh took their seats with Zim at the patio table. Zim was taking it easy chatting with his friends until Josh reminded Zim of unfinished business.

"Zim, you have nothing to worry about other than skool." Josh spoke too soon.

"You're wrong," Zim said then looked to Mary. "There is a matter I must attend between me and your father." Mary froze for a second.

"Zim, you don't have to do it now." Mary insisted. "You just came home."

"I don't have to, I want to." Zim said sternly. "I don't want to run away from him again."

Mary looked down and said, "My father told me he wanted to meet you too."

"Good, let's go." Zim said and stood with Mary. Membrane was in the kitchen and unknown to Zim visiting Prof. Weylin. The clueless scientist came outside when Zim and Mary walked out the back gate.

"What's going on?" Membrane asked. He darted his eyes left to right. "Where's Zim?" Membrane was holding the snack he prepared for the kids. He thought if he made their snacks, it would encourage Zim to join them but Zim had other plans that didn't involve eating chips and crackers.

"He's with Mary visiting her father." Dib said. Membrane slammed the tray on the patio table and rushed out the back gate. Dib, Tina, Leena, Josh and Brian followed the adult. Gaz, not part of the dramatic peanut gallery, sat at the patio table and helped herself to the chips then went inside to get a soda. Membrane caught Zim and Mary before they left the front yard.

"Hold your horses!" Membrane shouted. "You're not going anywhere." Zim shot a look at Membrane when he turned around. "Not without me." Zim's face lightened up. "I'm not going to let him hurt you."

"Me neither, I'm coming too." Dib finally agreed. Zim had no objections to his family's support but Zim acted like he didn't like it.

"Fine," Zim said walking back with Mary to Membrane's car knowing he will drive. Zim opened the car door for Mary and then entered. Membrane took the driver's seat and Dib sat next to his Dad. They backed up and left this house. Tina, Josh, Brian and Leena stared at the family dilemma unfolding.

"Everyone! Get in the car!" Tina shouted to her friends. "We have to see this."

"Isn't this between family?" Leena questioned if they should get involved.

"Honey, we are family." Tina snapped and everyone huddled into Tina's car accepted the explanation. They drove off not far behind Membrane's car. Left in the backyard, Minimoose and Gir stared at each other.

"Gir," Minimoose said, "It looks like they forgotten about us. Wanna play in the lab?"

"Yeah," Gir peeped and they ran back into the house being mischievous robots. Nothing in Professor Membrane's programming can change that. Two cars drove down Mary's neighborhood. Anyone who seen them come out of their cars would guess they were attending a party, yet they were preparing to rage battle against a very stubborn man. Mary and Zim approached the front door.

"I'll go get my father," Mary said but before she finished the sentence Zim was knocking, practically banging for the attention.

"Okay, we'll do it your way." Mary said giving up. Membrane didn't stand close. He knew this was Zim's challenge, his call to solve their differences. Many times Membrane tried to make amends but failed. Maybe Zim could out stand an olive branch and began mending the damage. They stand outside their cars waiting for a unforgettable confrontation. Zim knocked on the door the final time and heard the door clicked open. Professor Weylin opened the door and saw who it was. Weylin completely off guard. Mary stood on Zim's left.

They glared into each other's eyes unmoved not showing any slight effort of peace and forgiveness. They wore their poker faces well.

"Hi, Dad," Mary said hoping to start the conversation between them. "Zim back from his trip."

"Take off your disguise. I like to speak man to man without you hiding anything." Professor Weylin demanded. Zim oblige slowly removing his contacts then his wig and gave them to Mary. She held them like books flat on her hands. Professor Weylin peered into Zim's red eyes not trusting them one bit. Weylin then glance at Zim's outfit.

"What are you wearing?" Weylin scoffed.

"An Irken armor suit capable of morphing to anything I want."

"That's what you're wearing!" Dib called out. Zim and Prof. Weylin shot glares at Dib for interrupting. "Sorry…" Dib apologized and they continued.

"You invaded Meekrob?" Weylin pounced at him.

"Yes, but ended up making peace instead. They migrated to Mars and my people don't know. Safe to say, I saved their lives and they spared mine."

"Well isn't that peachy but it doesn't mean anything to me if you're a hero or saving your ass. Two important factors remain; you lied to me and you involved my daughter."

"I lie to anyone I don't trust. It's how I keep myself under the radar from the government. If I blabbed, everyone I wouldn't be safe. This is the life of secrecy I chose. I didn't intend you to find out this way. I wanted to sit down with you and talk but I had no time the way you were reacting. For that, I am sorry. And getting Mary involved I didn't mean it to happen either."

"But why her? Why did you have to love Mary?" Prof. Weylin asked. Zim stared baffled he asked such a thing.

"Why not her?" Zim exclaimed. "She has great qualities. She's sweet, caring, and the love she gave is nothing I experienced. I tried to escape it, I had my fears she wouldn't like my appearance but she loved me more than I thought. You raised someone truly special. I really want her to be my girlfriend. I'll beg if have to."

"Then beg," Prof. Weylin challenged Zim. Zim didn't hesitant and got on his knees. He looked to the man.

"Please, let me date her." Zim asked sincerely. Prof. Weylin stare at the boy profound he's actually begging to date his daughter. Prof. Weylin knew he was swallowing his pride.

"This isn't about what you want. I'm interested in protecting my little girl. How long can you keep up this charade before anyone finds out about you? You can't keep this secret forever. It will ruin her if they found out she dated you. Who would want to marry her if the media had a field day with you?"

Zim thought intensely what Weylin said.

"She doesn't have to worry about that. I'll marry her." Zim pronounced. Mary gasped and blushed. His friends gasped except for Tina. She squealed to the proposal. "I'll protect her from suctany. I won't leave her alone to be picked at or judged. I'll be beside her. I'll take care of her. I promise you that. I'll do anything to keep her happy, I would give her my heart if I had one. Instead, I gave her a golden locket."

"Zim…" Mary said. Her heart was racing through her body while Weylin's was doing the opposite; stopping. Zim turned to her, then raised one knee up like tradition he seen on T.V. He held her hand and looked into her eyes.

"Mary, we've been through too much together. Your father may not approve but if you stay with me, I promise I will marry you and you don't have to be alone. I'll be with you always, I'll take care of you like you took care of me." Zim said then kissed her hand. "There will be a ring on your finger."

"No one's getting married." Membrane was the one who broke the occasion. "Zim's too young. He has to finish high skool, go to college before he can consider it." Membrane picked Zim up by the shoulder and the arm. "How dare you put this in his mind?" Membrane attacked Weylin.

"I did not." Weylin said, "He's the one proposing to my daughter. I didn't want that!"

"Actually," Zim interfered. "You did say when I first met you if I wanted to marry Mary and I do. I want to marry her."

"And I want to marry Zim," Mary proclaimed wrapping her arms around Zim and pulling him away from Membrane. Mary kissed his lips. "I want to have his alien babies!" Mary said. Zim's eyes would turn white if he wore his contacts. He quivered and Mary saw this and quickly whispered. "I really to want marry you. No children yet. Just play along."

Zim understood what she met and she winked too. Zim assumed she had a plan and followed her league though it may blow up in their faces.

"Oh, yes, I would definitely be a father and quit high skool. I'll get a job and support you and our children. Who needs education?"

"Not me if I'm a homemaker." Mary laughed. "Forget being a teacher. If I can't date Zim, I'll marry him instead."

"I'll wait until Mary turns eighteen and marry her. She can live with me."

"But why wait until I'm eighteen. We can get married in Utah when you're fifteen." Mary stated. Weylin and Membrane's jaws dropped aware they could and was speechless.

"Oh, really, then let's go." Zim told her.

"No, wait, stop!" Both parents shouted stopping the ridiculous plan before it started.

"Mary, don't do this!" Weylin shouted.

"Let them fucking date!" Membrane called out Weylin. Membrane wasn't the kind to swear so it shocked everyone.

"Alright! Alright!" Weylin finally agreed. "Mary, if I let you date him, would you put off the marriage?"

"I will, Dad." Mary promised.

"And you too, Zim." Membrane said.

"Well of course, it depends on if Weylin gives consent." Zim turned to Weylin. Prof. Weylin nodded defeated and held his head.

"Yes, just don't marry her. I need to lie down." Weylin said and entered the living room. Membrane followed him.

"Weylin, may I have a word?" Not the most convient time to talk but he'll take it. This leaves Zim and Mary staring at each other ready to clear the air.

"I don't want to get married yet." Mary said.

"Me neither." Said Zim not disappointed.

"I don't want to quit skool. I still want to be a teacher."

"I don't want to get a job for a very long time. They suck!" Zim admitted smiling.

"And I don't want children yet. Maybe in the future, just not yet." Mary said. Zim's smile faded away.

"I can't have children." Zim said almost sad being denied the privilege. "I found out the males are sterile in my species and only selected females can hear children."

Mary sensed a lot of sadness. He dwelled on it and feared it could be the reason she might dump him. Mary looked up at Zim and smiled.

"Zim, we can always adopt." Mary said happy. "You relate to any adopted kid because you were adopted. It's a perfect fit, plus think of all the money we will save on birth control and condoms."

"Mary!" Tina gasped not approving. Zim and Mary stared forgetting their friends were here. They didn't bother to interrupt. They were so drawn into the drama, it was worth staying quiet until now. "You're going to have unprotected sex? Damn you!"

Mary said nothing but her ear to ear smile and lingering fingers touching Zim's chest suggests maybe. Zim was excited the most part. He beamed a smile that everything worked out perfectly.

"I'm back home, I can date Mary. Everything is back to normal." Zim said satisfied. "I can enjoy the rest of my summer vacation."

Dib and the others exchanged odd looks. Zim noticed them.

"What?" Zim shouted.

"Zim, it's September." Dib decided to be the bearer of bad news.

"September?"

"Skool starts tomorrow."

"Nooooo!"

The End

* * *

I like to take this opportunity to say thanks for all the support I received from you, my readers, who liked or even criticized my story (though not many criticized). It helped me create the story rattling in my brain and bring it to this final conclusion. I knew, "It's A Wonderful Life, Yeah Right (or is it?)!", was long and a real challenge. I wanted to prove something to myself if I had the follow through and I did. I'm proud of what a created and contributed to the world even if it was a fanfiction. It's not perfect but I learned a lot about myself and what I can do to improve my abilities. I'm sharing this because all of you are my inspiration and I really enjoyed your feedback. Thanks again for your support. I still plan to continue writing more fanfictions and many of my own stories because of this great experience I shared with you all.


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